The Touch of Time
by Fellgrave
Summary: Serenity knew the Silver Millenium would fall, and she had done all she could to stop it. And so she makes sure her Contigency plans are set, well lets see what happens shall we?
1. Prologue

A/N: AGH! So weak, I have fallen victim to that most heinous of crimes, writing another Sailor Moon Ranma Cross. Please forgive me. I blame **Ozzallos** and **Sunshine Temple** for this. I should never have read their totally awesome stories.

I seem to have an unfortunate knack for coming up with ideas that don't want to leave me alone until I start writing them, and then dissapear. This one takes a lower place in importance for my stories so don't expect updates too often, this is more of a work on every once in a while piece. Sorry if that upsets you.

Oh well lets get this thing going shall we. Oh yea, before I forget...** REVIEW! OR I WILL KILL YOU... WITH A SPORK!**

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><p><em>-Now come with me-<br>__O Infinity  
>O Eternity<br>__O Serenity  
>And let us Dance<br>-O Dance endlessly-_

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><p>"My Queen." The young man knelt on the ground in front of the raised dais upon which his monarch sat. He carefully kept his eyes averted downwards until he recieved the aknowledgement to rise. Even with him unable to see his Queen, he could veritably feel her prescence suffusing the room. He didn't need to look up to know she was smiling, or to know that her favorite advisor was standing next to her. Her voice was soft as silk and yet held a strength and hardness born from much hardship, it rang out like a crystal chime, amusement clear in her voice.<p>

"Oh stand up Lucian. We're alone here, there's no need for such trivalties. Now what's our status." Her voice quickly lost all amusement, and her eyes flashed with hidden steel.

"Operational capacity reduced to 37%. We have barely 24% of our fleet in fighting shape, most of them those who were stationed on the Moon. We lost a large portion in the attacks on the Hyperion Shipyards, most of the fleet was there awaiting repairs. We did manage to get some of the larger ships out, But it was close. As it stands, we have 30 frigates, 16 small cruisers, 7 carriers, 3 battleships, one heavily damaged dreadnaught, and the _Aeternus Eternus_. Ground based defenses are fully operational, we've got more than enough men to man everything with all the refugees we've picked up from the other plants. If we can hold off their fleet for long enough, I believe we can be able to recall the expiditionary fleet to get us out of this."

His queen frowned, he resisted the urge to frown as well. The odds were not looking good for them. If worst came to worst though, they still had their supply of W.M.D.s to use. He sighed, '_I really hope it doesn't come to that. The amount of damage they'd cause the planet.' _He shook his head, he had no time for that now or ever, if he was ordered to do so he would launch the weapons himself.

"Do we know how they managed to pull off synchronised strikes against every planet in the system yet?"

Lucian swallowed air, this was the part he really didn't want to have to tell his queen about. "Yes Ma'am. IntOps had known for the last 15 years that funds were being chanelled somewhere off the grid by nearly every section of the Earth's government, to where was unkown until the attacks. We believe that they were using the money to establish shipyards within the asteroid field. From their they were able create a large scale fleet under our radar, before launching silent until whatever go ahead signal was sent. We believe that nearly 85% of their fleet had been in position for more than 8 years."

"What about conditions planetside?"

"Unknown Ma'am, all our sensors are being jammed and every drone or scout we send in gets shot down before they send anything back. We got a couple of remote sat-scans though. What they show is quite disturbing, from what we can tell most of the population is being gathered and put into concentration camps. We don't know what they're planning to do, but whaterver it is, its gonna be real bad."

"What are enemy forces standing at? How much of a chance do we really have of lasting long enough to recall the fleet? And if we do what are the options for recovery for the other planets?" His queen asked, her frown more strongly pronounced.

"Enemy forces currently stand, fleetwise, at a couple hundred frigates, 84 cruisers, 43 carriers, 26 battleships, 13 dreadnaughts, and at least two SMDs. Troops are practically uncountable right now. As it stands, we have at best only the slightest chance of getting off an emergency message to the fleet. And even if we did we aren't likely to be able to resettle most of the planets. The inner planets got the worst of it. Mercury had its atmosphere detonated, Mars was put to the torch via plasma bombs, Venus was turned into a burning wasteland covered in choking gas thanks to imbeded volcanic generators. The outer planets got off a bit better. All of the orbital and floating cities and facilities on Jupiter were destroyed, they turned the capital into a giant storm that ripped the city to pieces. It seems like that the magic they used to create the storm actually tapped into the planetary ley lines, stopping will be impossible without an entire cadre of technomancers and mages. Neptune and Saturn suffered similar fates. With Saturn, none of the techies know how, they supercharged the magnetic field, disrupting the gravitic supports and destroying the floating cities. We still have no idea what they used on Uranus and Pluto to shut down the geothermal activity like they did. As it is the only possible places to resettle if we make it out alive are in orbital installations on the outer planets. But that's only if, and thats a real big _if_ , we manage to make it out alive."

"Thank you Commander Lucian. I need some time to discuss things with my adviser. Prepare the anti-personnel defense measures however, if and when they attack their going to go in at ground level to make sure they get us." The commander bowed low as he backed out of the room.

"Of course my queen, your will shall be done." He exited softly and the large doors slammed shut behind him.

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><p>As soon as the doors were closed the queen let out a tremendous sigh and seemed to melt into her throne. In the place of the proud and strong queen was a woman who was simply tired. She rubbed the bridge of her nose as she thought about her commander's report and what her other knowledge meant. She turned slowly to face her advisor with a wan smile.<p>

"Not much longer now, right Set-chan?" Her crimson-eyed advisor merely nodded sadly, as if the act of speaking of the coming events would bring them to pass. Serenity let out another sigh.

"I had wished that we could find away to avoid the path fate has taken, but it seems the future refuses to change. At least from this end. If only I could spare them what is to come." She nearly broke down as she finished speaking. She had seen what was coming after she had ordered Setsuna to bring her to the Gates when the whole fiasco had begun. They had tried to change things as much as they dared without damaging the temporal stability, but it seemed their efforts were for naught.

"And the worst of it is that I can't even prepare them for what must happen next. When the seal breaks they will be completely unprepared to become fighters or defenders of humanity. I can't even allow myself to be sent forward either or else things might be different.*Sigh* Oh Setsy what am I to do. There all going to be taken away and there's nothing I can do"

Her adviser, no, her best friend held her as she started to shed tears. Nothing she could do would make a difference, there was no escape for her or those she thought of as daughters and sisters. There was nothing she could do to protect them, and they would be so weak and unprepared in the future. She started muttering under her breath."It's not like I can simply travel to the future and get... them... a.. protec..." She stopped crying and slowly turned to look at Setsuna with an intensity that was disturbing in its strength.

"Set-chan, there isn't any problem with me travelling to the future right? So long as I come back and, er, die, right?" Setsuna put a finger too her lips as she thought it over.

"So long as you don't interact personally with any of the reincarnations it should be fine, no messages to them either though. But it should work, changing the future is much easier than changing the past, after all. Um, Senny I really don't like that look in your eyes. The last time you got that look you somehow managed to forcefully teleport me from my castle on Pluto, where I was showering, and put me right into the middle of the Annual Nymphomaniacal Anonymous Lesbians meeting, (A/N : Put the capital letters together) all in an attempt to get me, as you so eloquently put it "Get me some action with _someone_ since I don't seem to like men much". You know I'm waiting until I meet a special guy, and I barely got out of that meeting in one piece." The two shared a blush and a laugh over that particular incident.

"Don't worry Setsy. Nothing like that will happen this time, I promise. However," And now all the laughter was gone from her voice, leaving the Queen behind," I will have to delete the records of what I do afterwards. I know you'll want to know what I'm planning, but if you did you might change things. As one will say "The outcome of an experiment can be changed merely through observation." And I'll make sure it doesn't involve anything like last time. Now hurry up we need to go the Gates, time's a wasting. Time waits on no woman, right?" Serenity chuckled at her bad joke. When Setsuna groaned Serenity's chuckles turned into full-blown laughter as they were whisked away to the Gates of Time.

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><p>The darkness surrounding the gates was light up with light from the massive back of monitors emplaced next to the actual monolithic archway that was the real Gates. In the light one could see the silver haired queen poring over the data being recieved from multiple monitors, switching between them quickly, all the while speaking orders aloud for the computer.<p>

"Hmm, no he won't do, next. Let's see here; strong, honorable, gentle, good-looking, horrible luck that would bring about the end of the world if he met the Senshi, ok then. Mark off Hayate Ayasaki Next; smart, magically gifted, strong fighter, kind, and ten years old with a tendency to accidently blow the clothing off of those nearby. With the fukus? No way, mark off Nagi Springfield, but keep tabs on the magic world, it may prove useful. Hmm, next one; strong, caring, pretty intelligent, crude, rude and obnoxious, and the son of a shinigami. Want to stay away from him. Mark off Ichigo Kurosaki. Second to last one; average strength, average intelligence, average looks, completely average. Why the heck is he on the list? Oh well mark of Tsukune Aono. Last one; strong, brave, honorable to a fault, intelligent, little crude, but kind and honest. Hmm, computer bring up more data on this last candidate."

There was a loud grinding noise as the obsidian cover on the Gates slid off to allow the computers access to the time-stream in order to retrieve more information from the subject's time period. The shadows swirled within the confines of the arch, all drawn like a whirlpool into some unseen point that was constantly shifting around. Finally the download of information was complete and the obsidian cover slid back into place, like the lid of a stone coffin.

"Well lets see what we have to work with. Mother's a former swordsmaster, retired after marriage to a martial artist. Not too uncommon that. What else is there, trained since he could walk, at six he went on a ten-year training trip with his father across the continent. That is definately interesting, a few additional stops should help him out a bit with that mouth and mind of his I should think. A..n..d there we go. Engaged to one, no two, wait make three, four?" Serenity blinked as the computer kept bringing up more and more engagements, often for the clearing of a bar tab or food. Her jaw dropped when she saw that there was an engagement made for a bowl of rice and two pickles. She needed to stop looking at the engagements before she went and killed the man.

"Computer bring up the information on the training trip and afterwards." She waited patiently for the information to load before diving in, hopefully the poor boy's father was a better martial artist than caring father. It started out simply enough, leaping from trees, swimming upstream in rapids, standing under waterfalls for hours at a time, but then it went straight to hell. Serenity watched horror stricken as the boy was bound up in fish sausage and tossed into a pit of cats for the 67th time that night. She fast-forwarded, not wanting to see any more of that torture Genma Saotome called training. She skipped to near the end of the training trip, hoping to see why it was cut short from Genma's original plans. She watched with a quirked brow as they entered a valley filled with small pools and proceeded to start fighting while juming from pole to pole. All in all a stunning performance, but quite tame for something Genma had cooked u- and he just turned into a panda. And now Ranma's a girl. Well that explains how she managed to get a couple of male engagements.

She watched as they traveled to the amazon village, picking up another unanticipated fiance for Ranma while there, before heading back to Japan. '_Hmm, old engagement to a training partner, not too bad. Three daughters, a mercenary, a saint, and a demon. Well its a no brainer which one they'll go wi-are you kidding me. Those have to be the stupidest parents I have ever seen. How do they possibly expect those two to get along together.'_ Serenity shook her head before ordering the computer to increase viewing speed. She watched stone-faced as the pure and kind, though rough around the edges, Ranma was abused and put through hell on a daily basis, all so that he could marry a girl he didn't love. Serenity had enough and ordered the computer to stop, it froze on the image of Ranma driving a spike of energy into Saffron that kill him.

"No way in hell I'm letting someone like that get ruined by those people. He's a perfect mentor and protector for the girls as well." She said to herself.

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><p>She smiled as she made the necessary adjustments to the geas binding Setsuna,'<em>I'm sorry about this Set-chan but until the time is right I need you to push for Crystal Tokyo. Once Ranma reaches the right point in time the secondary features should take effect and the original binding should go away. Heh, let's hope this goes over better than the teleport incident.'<em>

"Computer, open Gate to temporal coordinates X1986-0080284498-0908D090C-09VF098 and stay open until I return." The Obsidian seal once again slid away from the gate as hidden machinery ground away. Waiting until the last portion of the coordinates were locked, Serenity used a minor spell to change her appearance before stepping through the looking glass. She took a look around the bar she had arrived in before spotting the man she was looking for.

"Ah, a bit of money trouble I see Mr Saotome. Maybe we can work something out...

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><p>And there we go, my first true foray into the well-worn land of R and SM crossovers. Grimoire doesn't count as its just the one character. Anyway hope ya'll like it.<p>

And as I stated above.. **REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 1: Fire and Ice

**AND SUDDENLY ... an update...**

A/N: Daaaaaaamn... Who knew this would be so popular, I mean it has 24 reviews, 61 favs, 89 alerts,and 6 C2s. Thats more than half as many Favs and only ten less alerts as I have for Ranma no Kitsune. And you know what, I guess I feel inspired to write this more.

I'm sorry for any of those who thought that the events in Nerima would be changed by Serenity's interference. I believe that the events that occured during the story are what make Ranma Ranma, and I'm not going to take away from what he did or learned. Besides coming up with an entirely alternate backstory to how he learned all his attacks would be way too much work. And I currently am not planning on having Ranma end up a senshi or to be reincarnated, yet. That might change sometime in the future but at the moment Ranma is pure Ranma.

Also I couldn't quite figure out a way of introducing Ranma either before or during the events where Beryl and Mistress Nine show up, that's not to say there won't be a villain in this fic, it'll be one people aren't expecting.

Also soon I'm gonna put up another possible story idea I had. All I'll say about it is this: Ranma... The Batman... Dr. Jason Woodrue... **YOU **connect the dots.

Lets get this goin. Oh yea, before I forget...**REVIEW! OR I WILL DO SOMETHING I MIGHT REALLY REALLY REGRET! Wait thats not right...**

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><p><em>-I shall set the skys afire-<br>-And watch them bleed -_

_Fellgrave_

_-Death does determine life...-  
>- Only once life is finished it aquires a sense;-<br>-up to that point it makes no sense;-  
>-its sense is supsended and therefore ambiguous.-<em>

_Pier Paolo Pasolini_

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><p><strong><em>LOCATION:LUNAR CAPITAL CELESTIA<em>**

_Warning klaxons were blaring loudly throughout the city as people scrambled to get to safety or their posts. Within the only room in which the sound of the alarms did not penetrate, everything was seemingly calm. All of the people within were focused on the monitors in front of them, coordinating the efforts of the last remaining defenders with a knifelike precision. A loud hiss heralded the opening of the large blast doors, allowing the entry of the Queens personal Guard and the Queen herself. The commander and Lady Pluto gave a curt bow before turning back to face the large wall to wall screen displaying real-time updates to the current situation, drawing the Queen's attention as well. _

_"What's going on Commander? Why have we dropped to Red Alert?" The Queen's voice was smooth and hard, the voice of a born and tried leader._

_"We managed to run a couple probes into the atmosphere via warp-drops, a couple burned up on entry and some were shot down but we managed to get images of whats going on planetside. Its not a pretty picture. In my previous report I mentioned how they were gathering the population into large premade cities. Well we managed to get an aerial shot of one of those cities. Now what do you see here?" The commander gestured to the image of a large walled city on the main screen._

_"I see a city. What about it?" The commander turned and nodded his head to Pluto. She caught the hint and explained exactly why things were now so bad._

_"Look at how the streets are layed out, the location of the buildings. What does it look like to you?"_

_"It looks like a...no. They couldn't have possibly..." Serenity's face had gone a deathly pale as she recognized of what she was seeing._

_"Unfortunately it seems they did. Each of these cities is layed out the exact same way and located over a planetary ley line. And the pattern of the streets and the layout of the buildings all make up a giant seal array for turning objects within into magical energy. Add to that the fact that each city is located over a planetary ley line, and things are looking very grim."_

_"Commander what types of magics require such an amount of magical power?"_

_"They're either going to use large-scale magical attacks, of which several would use that amount of power, a mass transportation spell which is unlikely as they control all navigable space currently, or they plan to use it for a large scale summoning ritual. Whatever it is they plan to do they're doing it soon, which is why I dropped us to Red Alert. Their fleet has entered maximum engagement range and is holding steady at our best weapons' limits. Whatever they're going to do, its gonna hit us fast and hard."_

_"Very good commander. They still have too many large ships, that weapon you designed, did you have a functioning version constructed?" A hard smile crossed the commander's face._

_"Aye Ma'am. The _Grand Executor_ can be ready to go within the hour. Now until we are able to get a proper handle on the situation, I highly recommend you and your men retreat to the Throne Room. It is the best defended location in case of attack. I will take of things here, you go to Pluto." He shared a look with the stoic Senshi, a look that held an entire conversation and developed over many years of working side by side in their queen's name._

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><p><em>Serenity, Pluto and the Royal guards had just made it back to the Throne Room when the Klaxons shifted from from repeated blares to a constant defeaning whine. They were all startled as the sound of blast doors slamming closed echoed throughout the Palace. The Master at Arms spoke into his communicator quietly at the side of the room. Terse words were exchanged with whomever was on the other end of the line before he lost the signal and made his way over to where his Queen and her advisor were standing. Her advisor noticed him coming over and asked the question that was on everyone's minds.<em>

_"What exactly is going on?"_

_"It appears those on Earth just activated the sacrificial arrays. Using the resulting influx of magical power they opened up a wormhole to another dimension and summoned a horde of beings that seem to feed on life energy. After that they teleported a large portion topside and we are currently fighting them off to the best of our ability. They also launched a simultaneous attack with their fleet. The _Grand Executor _took out their flagship before it could fire a shot, but we lost the _Aeturnus Eturnus _in the ensuing ship-to-ship combat. __After that they jammed our fleet-coms. Last thing I heard before they jammed all the coms was that the commander had left the Strat-Com and was making his way here. The Princess' Guards are bringing her to the Throne Room, and it seems a general of the enemy army is heading this way with a large force in tow. We'll hold them off as long as we can, I just hope you'll have enough time for whatever magic you work."_

_They didn't have to wait long for the shouts and the sound of the alarm to be drowned out by weapon fire and the screams of the wounded and dying. From outside the large windows brilliant flashes illuminated the night sky as immense battleships exchanged weapons fire or bombarded the Moon's surface. The view was cut off as the solid durasteel blast shields were lowered over the glass archways. The doors from the antechamber banged open to admit two people into the Throne Room, one clearly injured as he limped slightly and was leaning on the other for support. Pluto's eyes widened in recognition at the injured figure, making her way quickly down the dias to help him make his way._

_Bleeding from slash across his eye, various cuts across his body and wound in his leg, the commander made a rather sorry presentation of himself in front of his queen. When he bowed he nearly fell over before Pluto reached and grabbed his shoulder, receiving a sickly smile in return. He turned from her to his queen and the smile dropped from his face._

_"Sorry about my appearance,*cough cough* if I had known that they would take me straight to you I would have fought a little harder and tried to avoid getting my uniform so dirty. I have bad tidings to report my-*cough cough* Queen. Under the command of a General Rhodochrosite the enemy army has seized most of surface, only Blackfrost Fortress and the Palace are still standing. And I fear my home will not last that much longer under such heavy bombardement. It seems that _Queen_ Beryl's hatred of you will be our saving grace, she could have simply vaporized us from orbit but it seems she wants to deal with you personally. The gaurds and I will defend this chamber to the last man, and beyond. I, I took the liberty of connecting the _Ragnarok _protocol to a Dead Man's switch." Simultaneous gasps filled the air as everyone's eyes widened. "If we go down, we're damn well going to take as many of them with us as we can. It has been an honour to serve you Lady Serenity." He tried once again to bow, succeeding albeit barely, before standing up and hobbling his way out of the room. He stopped as his queen called out from the dais._

_"You should know commander, if I could I would save you as well. It truly was an honour to have a man like you as my commander. Lucian Blackfrost, go forth and stand against our enemies with the full blessing of your were the best soldier I have ever seen and I look forward to meeting you again in the next life. " The commander gave another nod, a large smile on his face as he led the last remaining troops out of the room. The queen turned to Pluto for the last time in her long life, unshed tears gathered at the edges._

_"It is time Setsy, I'm so sorry for what you'll have to endure. But I know you are the only one who could withstand being the Guardian of Time. But do try to avoid meddling too much, it would be a darned shame if you damaged the contigencies I set up." A tremendous roar suddenly sounded, a roar loud enough to shake the windows hidden behind the blast sheilds. "Now go, I have to prepare my spell." Pluto gave a sad nod and warped to the Gates of Time._

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><p><em>As soon as she arrived at the Gates she rushed over to the monitors and turned them to the Palace. Her blood ran cold at what she saw. From miles around the entire surface of the moon was a fliud tide of darkness as the horde of summoned demons converged on the last stronghold of the Silver Millenium. The demons quickly broke into the Palace and began slaughtering anyone they could. They quickly made their way to the antechamber, fortunately there they couldn't bring their superior numbers to bear as easily, due to there being only a single entrance. Those that entered first were quickly cut down by concentrated fire from the Royal guardsmen. Unfortunately while the numbers of the youma was unlimited, the ammunition supplies of the guardsmen were not, and when they ran out the demons took advantage immediately. Swords and pikes met claws and spiked tails in combat the overwhelming strength and number of the demons easily gaining them ground.<em>

_Soon the only one standing was the commander, his pistol having run out of ammunition a couple minutes after the rest of the guardsmen he had drawn his sword and entered the fight. Pluto watched entranced as with every move he made several youma died. She watched as he held them off for an entire minute on his own, that minute becoming two, then five, then twenty. Suddenly the youma horde parted to allow a figure through. Pluto watched as the enemy general engaged the commander with his own sword, their blades clashing so fast they were a blur. With a twist the commander disarmed the enemy general before running him through, unaware that a youma had snuck up behind him until it was too late. Even as he turned to attack the youma, it struck at him, hitting him in his wounded leg and causing him to stumble. That stumble was all that was needed for the horde to capitalize on, leaping on the commander and tearing him into pieces. He smiled as his heart stopped, knowing that even in death he would defend his queen. He smiled as he heard the loud beep of the Dead Man's switch activating, before he and all the youma were destroyed. Even as his limbs were torn from him and the inferno consumed his body, his quiet little smile never wavered once. _

_From her vantage point at the Gates Pluto watched with awe as the surface of the Moon was light up more brilliantly than the Sun. With the commander's death all of the well-hidden fusion bombs went off. Hidden underneath each city was a large couple hundred megaton fusion bomb, an plan designed to make it so that if they were forced to abandon the Moon or if they were about to be overrun, they would leave the enemy with nothing but molten rock. Pluto let out a small sigh of relief as she saw that the Throne Room was still intact thanks to the inlaid magical protections. However that relief died a quick and unlamented death as "Queen" Beryl and her other general teleported in and killed the princess. Some sort of conversation was held between the two queens before Beryl killed Serenity as she sealed away the Dark Kingdom._

_Pluto dropped her stoic facade and she let out the tears that had threatened to break through ever since she had searched the future for the outcome of the crisis. She teleported to the empty and silent throne room, now a cathedral like tomb. Using her magic Pluto constructed a giant crystal coffin, and lightly placed her fallen queen and princess within, side by side in death._

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><p>Setsuna awoke with a gasp, her sweat-soaked sheets clenched in her hands. She started sobbing silently as she remembered her queen's last moments, watching the spike of magic burst her heart within her chest over and over again. '<em>Why now, why do I have to remember this now. We've defeated Beryl, Mistress 9 is gone for good, so why am I feeling so afraid all of a sudden. Maybe all I need is to visit Serenity's tomb again and pay my respects, its been too long. I could bring along Usagi and, no. I don't think she's ready for that yet. Besides seeing her dead self lying there would probably make her never able to get to sleep." <em>Chuckling at the morbid thought Setsuna got up and ready to go to work. Putting on a grey business suit she made her way down stairs and found herself alone in the house. Looking over at the clock it was no wonder, it was well past twelve and though they would much enjoy being out of school, Haruka and Michiru still had college to go to.

Sighing to herself she went and picked up the morning paper as her coffee brewed. Sitting down she let her coffee cool she opened the paper and gave a snort at the headlines. #_Nerima Martial Artists destroy Local High School... Again!# Ha, at least these are always good for a laugh. As if any mere human could do something like that. I'd better get to work, I do have appearances to keep up after all._ Tossing the paper onto the counter, she drank the last of her coffee and grabbed the keys to her car before heading out the door. As the paper settled on the counter, it landed open to a page with the picture of a young pig-tailed boy posing for the camera over his fallen opponent.

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><p><strong>LATER... ...AT THE HALL OF JUST- *Cough* sorry wrong series... AHEM.. Meanwhile in Nerima.<strong>

"Um, its not that I don't want to eat your food 'kane, its just that I, uh, I already ate. Yeah Kasumi made me a real big lunch today and now I'm full. Heh sorry." Ranma scratched the back of his head as he tried to back away from the offered bento in front of him. Normally he would have been all over it, hey free food right? But considering who the one who had made it was, he felt considerable justification for his actions. The less said about Akane's attempts to cook the better, though this was one of her more normal looking results, minus the tentacle of seaweed wielding a kitchen knife like a sword.

Akane pouted as she put away the carefully made bento. If Ranma had eaten already and was full then it wasn't fair to make him eat more. She di brighten as an idea stuck. "Well I guess I'll save it for you to have tommorow then. And I can tell Kasumi I made you lunch so you don't have to worry about being full either."

And having gone the whole morning without, the Saotome-foot-in-the-mouth curse struck once again. "That's sounds great 'kane, maybe by tommorow it won't be actively seeking to kill me and it'll kill me with food poisoning instead. Wait, thats not what I meant!" He started waving his hands in a placating gesture in front of him in an attempt to ward of the imminent eruption of Mt. Akane.

"Oh, so what did you mean?" Akane practically growled her question, her aura long having entered the visible spectrum as a red glowing fog surrounding her. Her hands were by her sides, clenching and unclenching the air as if they were readjusting her grasp on a weapon, or possibly her grip on someone's neck.

"What I meant was by tommorow it'll jus be toxic instead usin' a knife to kill me is all." Ranma's eyes widened as he realized that was definately not what he should have said. Akane's aura exploded, redoubling in size and whipping the leaves around her in a nonexistant wind. She reached behind herself with exagerated slowness, as if giving Ranma time in which to ponder his fate.

"**R-A-N-M-A NO BAKA!" **With her shout Akane let loose with a punishing uppercut swing, her summoned hammer slamming into Ranma's chin and sending him skyward. To the side three random students held up scorecards each reading a pefect ten. After all they weren't about to go making her angry at them.

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><p>As Ranma sailed through the air he watched the ground pass by quickly beneath him. After a mere couple of seconds he had already exited the ward and moved over the next. '<em>Letsee thats whats its name with the freaky mask monsters, uh. Karakura thats it. Darn looks like I'm gonna overshoot Mahora, shame that giant tree is a great cushion. Wow the Tomboy really got a good hit on me, I'm even goin past Chiba, holy. Guess I won't be seein Bell-chan today. Wonder where I'm goin though.' <em>

Beginning his descent Ranma heard, though barely audible over the air flowing by, the sound of a battle nearby. Looking down he spotted the telltale flashes of large-scale techniques being used. Angling his body towards the flashes he started using his ki to reinforce himself for impact. As he got closer to the fights he began to be able to pick out more details. One side was a large demonic monster made out of a radio tower that was shooting of lightning bolts. The other side was composed of a group of teenaged girls in sailor suits all of whom were tossing various magical attacks at the monster. '_Sailor suited monster hunters? Guess I'm in Juuban then, man thats gotta be a world record hit on me.' _

A slight bit more angling and he was able to direct himself so that he would land right behind the monster. He channeled as much ki as he could into reinforcing his body and then curled into a ball for impact. Just before he hit the ground he once again wished that he gone and done the Bakusai tenketsu training. Several things happened all at once when he touched down.

* * *

><p>Ranma hit the ground at a very high speed, his momentum cratering the ground for several feet around him.<p>

Ancient subroutines and well-hidden programs were brought to life, causing gears to grind as ancient machinery began to work at the Gates of Time. A small light swirled into existance in the void that was the are around the Gates. The light was soon joined by another, and then yet another. Soon the vast empty plain of darkness was illuminated by the dancing motes of light. The lights whirled faster and faster, funneling down into a single point. The glow faded away, and though there were none to see it, something had been left behind.

Pluto fell to the ground clutching her chest as the old geis that bound her was burned away and replaced. She felt as she her very blood was on fire, the ancient magics racing through her body, leaving their own indelible marks, though well out of sight. At least for the moment...

In Nerima all the fiances suddenly felt a chill down their spines, as if someone had walked across their graves, though Kodachi merely shrugged it off as being Tuesday. Akane also felt the strange need to go out and vandalize ancient ruins of an indeterminate origin for some reason.

And in Asgard all the gods and goddesses suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to start singing Hallelujah, as if some great wrong had been finally righted. Oddly enough Kasumi felt the same urge, though she simply shrugged and started humming instead as she continued hanging up the laundry to dry.

* * *

><p>Ranma hopped up out of the crater , pausing work out a kink in his neck, his eyes dilating and taking in the entire scene in a split-second before refocusing on the enemy in front of him. As he leaped to engage the monster his mind was dissecting the glance into various tactically applicable pieces of data. '<em>Group of skimpily dressed magical girls:Allies. One down, clutching chest near heart: possiblity of having taken a high-voltage shock and likely the resulting heart attack. Civilians nearby: monster attacks indiscriminate and wide area of effect. Enemy: metal and lightning based. Due to possiblility of collateral, suggest use of sealed techniques.'<em>

Nodding imperceptively to himself, he ducked beneath a sudden blast of lightning before unleashing a solid kick to the chest area of the monster. It wasn't too suprising when it simply bounced off, leaving a small dent behind as the only sign of damage. Bouncing back with a small frown, Ranma danced around several more blasts of lightning. One of the bolts struck a support holding up the roof for a small open-air cafe and it started to collapse, right over top of some people who had been trying to get away or find cover.

Ranma dashed over before anyone could react and grabbed the falling roof before it could crush those underneath it. He easily held the two tons of steel and glass over his head until the civilians could crawl away to safety. Once they had escaped he turned back to the fight and the stunned faces of the Senshi at his feat of immense strength and speed.

Readjusting his grip on the rectangular roof, he pivoted on one foot and hurled the roof like a discus, straight at the monster. The monster raised an arm, obviously relying on its abnormal amount of physical resistance to avoid damage. What it wasn't expecting was the roof to have been supercharged with ki beforehand, something Ranma had picked up after fighting Ryoga and his Iron Cloth technique so much. The arm was severed at the shoulder as the roof continued on unimpeded until it embedded itself in the building across the street. Ranma grimaced and hoped that whoever owned the Crown Arcade had good insurance for things like this.

The youma looked at the place where its arm should have been, and then at the the severed limb lying on the ground. It looked between the limb, the stump and Ranma in increasingly short intervals, right up until the pain finally registered in its admittedly small mind. Roaring loudly as the pain and rage dulled what little reasoning it possesed the youma charged the young man in front of it. Ranma sidestepped the youma's mad swing. As it passed by him he swung his arm through the air, sending a vacuum blade at the monster and severing another arm off of it. The youma roared again, now completely ignoring its previous foes, including one pained Sailor Pluto.

The youma started charging forward and as the Senshi and Ranma were preparing their attacks or getting ready to dodge none of them noticed the green-haired Guardian of Time getting to her feet, an expression of anger clouding her face. No-one noticed her walk forwards, and no-one could hear her whispers underneath the roaring of the youma, just two simple words. "_Dead Scream" _The ball of energy traveled quickly across the distance, intercepting the youma just as it leapt into the air to attack Ranma. The ball hit the youma dead straight on the head, disintegrating it entirely, the momentum from the leap carrying the headless body onwards until it turned to dust, completely coating the poor unsuspecting martial artist.

As he tried to get rid of all the dust that was covering himself, the senshi were trying to clear up something of their own. Setsuna was wondering why the heck she suddenly got so angry seeing the youma charge the pig-tailed boy, the outers were pouting about not being able to get in on the fight, and the inners who had seen the expression on Setsuna's face were quickly marking down notes to never make Setsuna mad or go after the boy she most obviously liked. Well most of the inners anyway, Usagi was still in shock over the fact that the Crown Arcade was going to have to be closed for repairs again and that she would have to find somewhere else to get ice cream from. Again. And Mercury was typing away rapidly at her computer in an attempt to make sense of the readings she was getting off of the young man in front of them while simultaneously giving her findings to the others.

The sensors had picked up no use of dark kingdom energy, a good sign considering most of the nice looking guys they had run into had turned out to be evil, but they only detected a couple passive sources of magic in his body, none strong enough to be detected without a thorough scan. But what was truly shocking was the amount of life energy he was giving off. This one person had more life energy than nearly all of Tokyo! The good news about that meant that he wasn't a foe as all their foes had attempted to drain off life energy from anyone nearby. All though, it was possible that his large reserves _were _in fact due to having been stolen from others, prompting another scan, this time of the energy within the boy. Mercury let out a sigh of relief as the results showed that all the energy had been produced by the boy and not from other sources. She quickly closed the computer as she noticed the boy start to come towards the senshi.

* * *

><p>Finally free of the dust that had once made up the youma, hey how was he supposed to know they did that, Ranma looked around and saw the group of girls were still there. Obviously whatever they were fighting hadn't been the first creature of its type they'd seen so Ranma decided to gather some more information on them, if he ever got hit back here by Akane again. As he approached them he was able to get a more complete look now that he didn't have to worry about a rampaging monster anymore. The first thing he noticed was the fact that all of them, with the minor exception of the girl in the purple and the lady with green hair, were pretty young, most definately not older than him. He barely gave their uniforms more than a passing glance, while tight and revealing, he had seen worse. He had <em>worn <em>worse as a matter of fact. _"Damn you Nabiki.' _

The other major thing he noticed was their hair. After having been to the Amazon's village he thought he had seen practically every hair colour imaginable there. But he had never seen a girl with such an strange shade of blue hair, he had definately never seen a woman with hair that was such a beautiful shade of _green. _Idly he noted that he had never thought of any of his fiancees of possesing hair that he considered beautiful. Deciding he needed to figure out why he had thought that he took a closer look at the woman in front of him, his steps slowing as he got nearer. She was very beautiful, as he had already thought, but now he thought it for other reasons. Nearly taller than himself, with long well-toned legs and a slim yet athletic body. Her skin was a dark tan that stood out with her green hair.

But what really captured Ranma's attention was her eyes. Brilliant blue met ancient chilling crimson and he found himself lost in their depths. Even though she couldn't have been more than ten years older than him, Ranma was struck by a feeling timelessness and maturuty in those crimson eyes. Not even the letch or the Old Ghoul had such a feeling in their eyes. He realized exactly what it was that made her so much different in feel from his fiancees. The woman in front of him was just that, a woman. All of his fiancees were just girls, so far out of the green-haired woman's league it wasn't even funny.

A not so discreet cough broke him out of his trance-like state, blinking and quickly looking anywhere but at the green-haired woman, a blush stealing its way across his face. Pluto blinked before raising an eyebrow at the expression on the boy's face. If her suspicions were correct, then she had a pretty good idea of who was standing in front of her, but she would need confirmation before making any plans. With a slight nudge from her foot she directed Mercury to begin questioning the boy.

"Thank you for helping us with the youma. But how did you do that? I mean you didn't use any magic at all, in fact you shouldn't even be standing at all, there was no way you should have been able to dodge those lightning blasts, or be able lift two tons of steel and glass let alone hurl it through the air like a frisbee! You even embedded it into the building across the street!" Some of the senshi were quite suprised by the amount of energy the normally calm Mercury was putting into her questioning.

Ranma scratched the back of his head sheepishly at the reminder of his damages he caused. "Heh, sorry bout that. Name's Ranma Saotome, Martial Artist and practioner of the Saotome school of Anything Goes. You ain't ever gonna meet someone better than me at the Art. Everythin I did was all thanks to the training I been doin since I could walk. I don't suppose any of you could get me a ride to Nerima, could you?" He quickly turned down the offers from the long-haired blond and the brunette, the looks in their eyes way to close to the looks he got from his fiancees for his liking, and most of the others didn't even offer.

"I can take you there. When would you like to arrive?" The senshi nearly gawked at the sight of Pluto offering to do anything for someone they had just met. Neptune had been keeping a close eye on Setsuna since she had collapsed and thus she was the only one to notice the emotions flash briefly across her face when Ranma had introduced himself, though she was puzzled by the look of sadness and pity that she had seen. Ranma merely blinked a bit at the offer, didn't one usually ask when you wanted to _leave_? Ah who cares, he might as well give it a try.

"How about a few seconds after I left, can you do that? I mean if it's not too much trouble for you that is." He asked teasingly. For some reason the sudden smirk on the red-eyed woman's face disturbed him, though he couldn't for the life of him figure why.

"Oh that shouldn't be hard at all. I _am _the best at what I do after all." Now the senshi had dropped all pretense of control and were openly gaping at the sight of **Sailor freaking Pluto** darn near Flirting with someone! Now all they had to wait for was for Rod Sterling to come out from aroun a street corner and everything would be perfect. Ranma on the other hand let himself smile and chuckle softly, its not everyday someone could best him in the battle of the banter. This may have been a worthwhile trip after all.

Sailor Pluto offered her hand to the pig-tailed boy, taking it easily as he was directed to stand next to her. Suddenly the entire world spun around and there was darkness. He felt a slight distortion of his senses before reality snapped back into place.

* * *

><p>They reemerged with a pop outside the dojo. Ranma took a couple moments to settle himself as he nearly emptied his stomach onto the roadway. He glared balefully up at the smirking visage of Sailor Pluto, a smug look across her face and amusement dancing in her eyes.<p>

"Oh laugh it up. I'll have to get you back for this you know." Now it was his turn to smirk, this one downright wicked. "Don't you forget I'm a student of _Anything_ Goes martial arts. I just wonder how you'd feel if you woke up one morning with your room full of, oh let's say, cockroachs?" Ranma enjoyed the shudder and flinch he got from the stoic senshi. Pulling out a small card Pluto slipped it into Ranma's hand.

"Touche. If your ever back in Juuban, or you need some help with something swing by or give me a call. Now then, I must be off. I have much too do and such little time to do it." Ranma blinked as the senshi started giggling as she teleported away from the dojo. Speaking of which, Ranma turned and took a good long look at the building, he wasn't expected back for at least a couple hours. He could go inside and help out Kasumi around the house, nbut then he'd have to deal with the fathers, and Akane would start swingin harder if it seemed like he didn't go that far. Maybe it would be better if he swung around down mainstreet and get some ice cream or something. Settled on his course of action he looked around him for something. Now then, where's that ladle lady when you need her?

Not finding her, Ranma took to the rooftops as he headed to the park. The fountain should be cool enough right?

* * *

><p>Setsuna arrived with a small pop back in her house, still giggling quietly. She simply couldn't understand it, she felt as so... so... happy. Like something that had been weighing her down was finally gone and she could let loose. Detransforming out of her senshi uniform and into a sleeping robe she let herself fall back onto her bed with a sigh. <em>'It was strange,<em>' she thought, '_I haven't acted like that since the fall._ _What could have possibly come over me?' _Thinking about what had happened reminded her about the magic she had felt. She definately needed to go the Gates and get a full report on the battle and a scan of herself done.

*Yawn* "Though that can wait until tommorow. It's not like I don't have the time to spare. Maybe now I can get a good night's rest." Closing her eyes her breathing slowed as she fell to the power of the sandman, and the latent magics still within her body. A slight glow came from her body, the magics working all through the night and leaving their lasting touch.

She twisted and turned in her sleep as her body was changed. Finally around midnight the light faded, the magic gone. And boy was Setsuna in for a suprise in the morning.

* * *

><p>Here ya go folks, enjoy.<p>

What secrets have yet to be revealed? What has the magic done to Setsuna? What happened at the Gates? Will I ever figure out how Genma can put three messages on a two-sided sign? Stay tuned to find out.

Don't forget to... **REVIEW**.


	3. Chapter 2: Stairway to the Skies

**A/N: **Here ya all go, the next much anticipated chapter of Touch of Time. Wowowow this chapter just kept growing and growing, I mean this was supposed to be a 4-5 k chapter, but the scenes I had planned just got larger and larger until I ended up doubling the word count for the entire story. I didn't want to split it up, so here ya go.

In this chapter we'll find out just what happened to Setsuna after we left her, and just what exactly was left at the Time Gates. If you missed that part I'll give you a moment to go back and look for it, since it is quite important. No really, go ahead... All good? Let's get going then.

Note, while the occasional other character from another series might show up in a scene, this will stay a strict BSSM x R 1/2 crossover.

Thanks very much to my new Beta for this story, the wonderful, **Shannon Dee.**

And yes, before any of you say anything, I am **not **a fan of Akane. I apologize for any of you who are, but all things considered, I just can't stand her. But oh dear, even I realize I am going to be eviscerated for this chapter.

* * *

><p><em>And Man Forgot...<em>

_What happened, none can say.__  
><em>_Was it as simple as the Passage of Time?__  
><em>_Divine Wrath from a Forgotten God?__  
><em>_Or did we do it to ourselves?_

_Man is but a fragment of what he once was,__  
><em>_living the shadow of his forgotten history.__  
><em>_The Past becomes ruins. The ruins crumble to dust.__  
><em>_And the dust blows away with the wind._

_During that Age, the world had another name.__  
><em>_But none is left to remember it._

_None save myself, for I can never forget.__  
><em>_And that is my damnation._

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><p><strong>The Outers' House the Next Morning:<strong>

As per the norm, Setsuna was the first one awake. As she stretched she couldn't help but reflect on what a wonderful sleep she had had. It was the most restful and peaceful sleep in a long time. According to her internal chronometer, a benefit of being connected to the Gates for so long, it was only six thirty in the morning, a half hour before she usually awoke.

She figured she had at least an hour before the others awakened, more than enough time for a nice relaxing shower. Since she normally slept in the nude she simply grabbed a large towel and wrapped it around herself before quietly slipping out of her room and into the bathroom, making sure the door closed with a soft click.

Turning on the water she waited until the stained glass sliding door completely fogged over by steam. Letting her towel drop to the ground she stepped into the shower and let the water flow over her, reveling in the soothing feeling. As she relaxed she couldn't help but think over the previous days events. Something had happened to the geis and she hadn't had the chance to look at it yet. But whatever it was it had left her feeling lighter than she had in centuries.

There was also the matter of that boy who had taken apart the youma like it was nothing, which all things considered wasn't a bad thing. It would be good for the girls to not have them believing that only they could stand against their foes. Although she would have to do a bit of research as to why he had arrived in the manner he had. She had heard of him, of course who hadn't, though thankfully she had been able to avoid dealing with him at all since he had always been diverted from Juuban. Maybe doing a bit of research on him wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe she could see how he got those _very _impressive muscles of his too.

Setsuna froze in her rinsing off as that last thought registered in her conscious mind. It was a thought she had never had before and one she was sure she never would have. As she continued to rinse the last of the shampoo out of her hair she couldn't help but think wistfully of how Serenity would have reacted if she had found out about that thought.

Setsuna gave a mental chuckle. _'Serenity would never have let me live that down. Or she would have done something crazy like set that boy and I up to get married.' _Setsuna gave a sigh and slumped a bit, thoughts of Serenity always weighing her down. Shaking her head, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed her towel off the ground to wrap around herself.

As she stood back up she finally managed to catch sight of herself in the mirror having been looking away from it as she had come in earlier. Her face paled in shock and she took several shaking steps forwards the figure in the mirror matching her. She raised a trembling hand to her face, comparing it to the one in the mirror, before letting out a scream of abject terror.

The scream awoke everyone in the house immediately, the well-honed senses of the Senshi having them alert and ready in an instant. Well somewhat alert at least. Haruka ended up falling to the floor tangled up in her bed sheets. Michuru drowsily followed her lover to the floor as she was unable to notice the struggling form in front of her. The first one to actually get out of room was Hotaru, her Senshi transformation already active.

She slammed the bathroom door open with her shoulder before taking up a stance with the Silence Glaive positioned in front of her body protectively. Her eyes flickered from the window to the still draining floor of the shower before they settled on the familiar yet not so familiar figure standing in front of the mirror.

Her jaw dropped as crystalline violet eyes met vibrant crimson, the Silence Glaive falling from suddenly slack fingers. Before the Glaive hit the ground Haruka had arrived in her Senshi uniform and grabbed it. She was about to berate Hotaru for being so careless with the weapon before her eyes located what her adopted daughter's had locked onto. Stunned, she grabbed onto the shoulder of Michuru whose own surprise was limited to a somewhat slackened jaw.

Hotaru took a tentative step forwards, her voice trembling as she spoke.

"S-S-Setsuna-mama, i-is that you?" Setsuna nodded not trusting her own voice not to betray her at the moment. Hotaru smiled before jumping over and giving her a hug.

"What happened to you? You were fine yesterday?" Hotaru wondered. Setsuna responded quietly wincing at the sound of her voice.

"I-I'm not entirely sure Firefly. But if I use the Gates I should be able to figure out what happened." She reached down to give Hotaru a reassuring pat on the top of her head. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."

Grabbing the Garnet Rod from its sub-space pocket she teleported away without bothering to use her Senshi transformation. Haruka stood looking between the spot where their mysterious friend had disappeared from and the confused faces of her family. Knowing that Michiru would probably smack her for it since Hotaru was still in hearing, she still voiced her thoughts.

"What the hell just happened?"

* * *

><p><strong>The Gates of Time:<strong>

Having arrived at the Gates Setsuna absently used a simple a cantrip to summon some clothes to cover herself, the nature of her current location and her power over it allowing her to bend the space to her will. Once her usual business suit had formed, she summoned a mirror to make a more extensive study of the changes she had undergone.

Her long emerald hair seemed the same, though maybe an inch or two shorter than before and her skin was still the deep tan most others could only imagine having. Those were pretty much the only things that had stayed the same. She had lost several inches in height, as well as what looked to be half a cup size in bust, which wasn't all that much for her, but it, combined with the other changes only served to illuminate what had happened to her body.

And it was undoubtedly her body, but it was her body circa age 17, which she most certainly hadn't been in millennia. What was most disconcerting to her was the fact that the Gates and her connection to them should have prevented any age changing on her by its very nature as time manipulations. There was of course one possibility in fact all things considered this situation had every hallmark of her Serenity's work.

"Serenity if I find you are responsible for this, I swear I'll go back in time and kill you myself." Setsuna cursed into the empty shadowed expanse of space that surrounded the Gates. Considering the fact the Gates were in a pocket universe outside of conventional space-time, Setsuna wasn't expecting a response so she could be somewhat forgiven for what happened next.

"Well, isn't that simply wonderful. After all I did for you and this is how you repay me? Maybe I should have just stayed dead." Paling to the point of whiteness, which considering her skin tone is quite the feat, Setsuna turned to face a voice she hadn't heard in a _very _long time. Seeing her long dead friend standing there with a smirk on her lips and a smile in her eyes combined with earlier events was enough to shatter the stoic Senshi's composure.

The smirk disappeared quickly as Serenity rushed forward the moment she saw Setsuna's eyes roll back in a dead faint. Looking down at her friend she chuckled and gave a wry look at the Gates.

"Hmm, that could have gone better. At least she didn't scream or attack me." Shaking her head she reached into the Aether and pulled out a small glass.

Sticking a finger into it she smiled as she held back a shiver. Making sure to avoid soaking her clothes Serenity dumped the glass onto Setsuna. The water that splashed Setsuna in the face was the perfect temperature, just a fraction of a degree shy of freezing. And thus it was a total shock to Setsuna's system when it came into contact with her.

Setsuna sat up as she spluttered from the water that had fallen into her mouth. As she tried to get her breathing under control she gave a withering glare to the woman next to her, a woman who was currently trying and failing badly to hide her amusement by rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. Setsuna held up the glare for another minute before she too gave into laughter, reaching over and grabbing Serenity by the shoulder as tears of joy made tracks down her face.

After a few more minutes the two had calmed down enough for rational conversation. Setsuna began by asking the most important question on her mind at the moment.

"Senny, I-when did-how are you?" Serenity laughed again, though it was much calmer than before.

"Do you remember that day before we were invaded?" Setsuna nodded, it was the last time they had been able to spend together before everything went south. "Well I did a little work in order to set up a back up plan in case things really went wrong. And I used the time to create an anchor for the reincarnation spell. My body was the anchor for the beginning of the spell and I used this body as the anchor for the destination."

Setsuna raised her eyebrow. "But how could you anchor yourself without reincarnating first? You would have to have been born before you cast the..." She trailed off as a thought came to her mind. "This isn't a real body is it?" She asked quietly.

"No, this is a PICA I constructed and sealed away. It was the only way to be sure my daughter and her friends wouldn't get lost in time." Serenity gave Setsuna a small sad smile, one which was returned with interest, in the form of a crushing hug. Setsuna knew exactly what her friend had done the moment she mentioned she was a PICA, or Personality Integrated Cybernetic Avatar. Serenity had sealed her soul in what basically amounted to a really advanced golem.

"Don't worry though," Serenity continued after escaping from Setsuna's grasp, "Once I'm sure everything is going according to plan and my daughter is trained well enough I'll have her use a reincarnation spell on my soul, since it is just the one it shouldn't require an anchor at all."

Serenity jumped to her feet abruptly, clapping her hands as she gave a radiant smile. "Now enough of that, its time we get to the much more important matters." She said as she headed towards the Gates' interface.

"Yes, maybe you could explain exactly why the hell I'm seventeen again?" Setsuna shouted as she scrambled to get to her feet and follow her friend.

"Oh that? Well I couldn't have you meeting your new partner looking so much older, but it seems I failed in that aspect, though it may end up working out for the better." Serenity said over her shoulder as she worked at the small interface next to the Gates.

Setsuna blinked as she tried to wrap her mind around what her friend had just said. "What do you mean, partner?" She asked slowly. "And what do you mean we've already met?"

"Hmm, oh I mean the person I found to help you and the rest of the Senshi stop the Great Freeze. That and I figured it would be just a good thing to do." Serenity smirked as she calmly destroyed Setsuna's worldview, clearly enjoying the stunned look on her face. Setsuna shook her head to clear it as she gave Serenity one of her piercing stares.

"Explain now." She said in a no-nonsense and flat voice. Serenity's smile disappeared as well as she gestured to the monitors connected to the Gates.

"What do you recall of a man by the name of Saffron?" Setsuna shrugged, confused as to the relevance.

"Not much, a minor noble from Mercury, he was a scientist though I don't remember what his field was." Serenity nodded as she brought up an image of the topic of their current conversation. It was an image of a noble looking young man grasping a sheaf of pages as he was walking down some street.

"I'm not surprised you remember little about him, after all he was exiled to Terra after word got out about some of his more, 'exotic' experiments. From the phsych profile he was incredibly envious of the Senshi especially after his cousin was made Senshi of Mercury. Specifically he was jealous of their longevity. He was driven to the point of obsession with a quest for immortality, going so far as to create his own bastardized connection to the planetary ley lines of Mars." Serenity and Setsuna shared a long look, for someone to tap into a planet's power like that was incredibly dangerous and illegal and it was no surprise he had been banished.

Serenity continued with her explanation, the image on the screen changing to display the same man, though he was now barely recognizable. An expression of rage contorted his face as he was surrounded by flames, flames obviously of his own making as they were being projected from his palms at some target outside of the frame. The most changed thing though were the two large wings stretching from his shoulder blades.

"As you can see, he succeeded. He used a combination of several techniques to grant himself near perfect immortality. He spliced his genes with those of the rare Phoenix, turning his connection with Mars into a much more powerful ability to manipulate elemental fire, as well as giving himself wings and an insanely powerful regenerative ability. Using a memory storage and unlocking ritual combined with genetic regression treatments he was able to regain his youth in cycles, going through a brief childhood before regaining his memories and knowledge through a special ritual that accelerated his growth to the optimum age. Each time he was 'reborn' he became stronger and stronger, but lost more of his archaic knowledge from the Silver Millennium. He was just a couple rebirths away from being strong enough to manipulate thermo-nuclear reactions." Setsuna's eyes had grown larger and larger through Serenity's explanation, though her mind seized on one important fact Serenity had let slip.

"You said he 'was' just a few away. What happened?" Serenity smiled, it seemed her friend was still as sharp as ever. She tapped a key and the screen changed to display a stunned Saffron being torn apart by what appeared to be a small and focused tornado to the chest.

"Your partner happened. Saffron kidnapped a dear friend of your partner's and took her all the way to China. They fought each other and only one walked away, though not unchanged. Oh and their fight happened to level a mountain." Setsuna simply stared at her as one of her eyes started to twitch.

"So, what do you need me for?" Setsuna asked Serenity in a flat tone.

"I need you to help keep your partner alive, as well as help with the training the rest of the Senshi in order to stop the Great Freeze. I chose you since you, unlike Uranus or Jupiter, know more than just your fair share of martial arts, as well as you being much more sensible and mature. And the perfect way to stay close enough to him to keep him safe," Serenity paused for a moment with her finger hovering over one of the keys, "is to go to school with him!" The image changed to display Ranma standing out front of the gates of Furinkan. Setsuna stared at it for several moments as her twitch became more pronounced. "I've already dealt with getting you registered, as well as setting myself up as the new school nurse, so everything will be perfect. I even have everything we need to get started today!"

"Serenity." Serenity blinked and turned to face Setsuna, who had at some point transformed into her Sailor Pluto uniform and who had leveled the Garnet Rod at Serenity's chest. The twitch had become so pronounced her entire head was spasming.

"Yes?" She asked tentatively.

"_Dead Scream"_

_"_AIEEE!"

* * *

><p><strong>That Same Day in Nerima:<strong>

Ranma was feeling nervous. After yesterday's 'adventure' he had come back home to the usual rant from the fathers about how he 'did his fiancée such a dishonor by not eating the wonderful meal she had prepared for him.' Of course when he suggested to Akane that since they thought so much of it, they might enjoy one of her home-cooked meals they clammed up quickly enough.

After that things had been surprisingly tame, at least for Nerima. None of the fiancées showed up, Ryoga was still lost and no new rival crawled out of the woodwork. Other than the fathers' usual dinner-time diatribe it was quiet, disturbingly so. Deciding it would be best for his health, he made sure to leave well before Akane. After giving a quick thanks to Kasumi as he picked up his lunch before he headed out the door Ranma started to feel a bit more anxious.

Taking the usual route to school he received the first sign that something was going to go horribly, horribly wrong for him. The little old ladle lady missed. That just did not happen to him cold water never missed a chance to screw with him. Apparently he wasn't the only one surprised as when he froze so too did the ladle lady. The two stared at each other for a good moment before looking down to the puddle of water slowly spreading along the ground. The old lady's jaw worked for a couple seconds before she could make intelligible words.

"Good luck lad, you'll need it." After that she turned around and walked back into her house, the sound of bolts and locks being thrown echoed in the uncanny silence. As the last bolt slammed into place the loud bang broke the spell-like trance Ranma was in as sound slowly returned. Giving a wary look around him, he decided that maybe it would better for him to actually be at school, after all there was a safety in numbers. Not that he was afraid mind you.

Instead of going to school by the rest of his usual route, Ranma took to the roofs, quickly covering the ground remaining between him and the school. Reaching the edge of the roofs before the school he easily cleared the distance and landed quietly off on the side of the school yard. Hugging the shadows near the base of the school he made his way around to the front where he saw Kuno already getting ready to 'receive his loves'. Shaking his head at the vast stupidity Ranma decided discretion was the better part of valour and ducked inside the front doors.

As he walked through the halls he had to hold back laughter at the looks on all the other student's faces. Well that and from how easy everything was today. By lunch every single student at the school would be buying information from Nabiki. He gave a mental shrug as he stepped into his near empty classroom, what people did with their money was none of his business.

As he sat down in his desk he realized he didn't have anything to do and class wouldn't start for another good half hour. Sighing he turned to the only other person in the class, a blonde foreign exchange student from Germany by the name of Edward Elric. The class' resident genius, he was constantly reading one book or another, including several arcane tomes and grimoires.

"Hey, uh, do you have a copy of yesterday's homework I can borrow?" The blonde didn't react at all, as he was engrossed in a very interesting passage in one of his lighter books, _War and Peace. _Ranma frowned and tried again.

"Excuse me, but do you got yesterday's homework?" Still receiving no response Ranma decided to switch tactics since being polite obviously wasn't working.

"Hey short-stuff! You in there?" Now that got a reaction, the blonde slamming his book closed and erupting from his seat.

"Who you calling so short he needs to use a step stool to reach the door knob?" He shouted angrily, his face inches from Ranma's. Ranma raised his hands in a placating gesture as he backpedaled a step, after having dealt with Akane for so long it was easy for him, except for with Akane ironically enough, to recognize when someone was near that hair thin edge before blowing up.

"Whoa man, I just wanted to borrow yesterday's homework but you were too stuck in that book of yours. I asked you a couple times but you didn't respond so I, well, you know." That seemed to do the trick as Edward blinked a couple of times before deflating.

"Oh, sure thing." He reached over into his bag and pulled out a small binder before handing it to Ranma. "Here you go, but I will need that back before class starts." Ranma nodded as he sat down in his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. Opening the binder to the right page Ranma started writing looking between his sheet and what was in the binder periodically as to check his work.

It was to this scene of Ranma studiously attending to his work that greeted his classmates as they came in. As they opened the door they stared with wide eyes, several running to the windows to look to see if the sky was falling or if any other signs of the coming apocalypse were present. Even Ms. Hinako took a brief look outside when she came in before turning to the class and getting them settled down.

Ranma looked up from his work and saw his teacher standing at her desk and quickly finished the question he was working on before handing the binder back to Ed who gave a mumbled thanks in response. As he sat back down he couldn't help but reflect on how much easier the questions seemed to be than usual. '_Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all'_ he thought as the bell rang.

* * *

><p>It was then… of course… that Hurricane Akane hit. She came storming into the classroom with her aura fully blazing around her. Her eyes seemed to be aflame as she cast her sweeping gaze across the class before they narrowed as they spotted her target.<p>

"R-A-N-M-A! Where the hell were you, you left me to deal with Kuno! I know you were probably off with one of those hussies of yours, weren't you? Why you..." Akane trailed off into unintelligible grumblings as she stalked towards her target, which was currently looking around himself wild-eyed in search of an escape route. Thankfully for him Ms. Hinako had decided that since Ranma had obviously been in the school early and actually doing his work she would do her best to encourage such behaviour.

"Happo-goen-satsu!" Akane stumbled as her aura was abruptly absorbed by Ms. Hinako. Akane turned incredulously to her, now age-appropriate, teacher.

"What did you that for? Ranma's the one who should be punished!" Ms. Hinako shook her head before pointing to the sheets of paper on Ranma's desk.

"Actually, Ranma has been here doing his schoolwork and since he was being a proper student I can't have a delinquent like yourself disrupting things. Now all of you sit down we have a new student coming in today." She smiled as all the students obeyed instantly, some looking as if they had teleported across the room to their seats. The students in the classroom were already making mental bets on whether or not the new student was male or female or if they were another one of Saotome's fiancées or rivals. Walking over to her desk Ms. Hinako picked up a small clipboard and then called out to the hallway.

"You can come in now." The door slid open and the students leaned forward eagerly in their seats. "Everyone meet Setsuna Meiou. Her mother is our temporary school nurse while Miss Ogara is on vacation."

The eyes of the class saw a pair of simple black running shoes that led to long well-toned legs which dissapeared in the folds of a simple black skirt. Tracing upwards past her narrow waist they saw decently large bust held within a white blouse, the rich colour of her skin a counter to the colour of the blouse, the sight stealing the focus of the students, either the males in lust or the females in envy. It was her face though that captured Ranma's attention.

It was a combination of factors that drew him in. It was the smile-cum-smirk on her face which whispered of untold secrets. It was the long hair that gleamed like spun emeralds. And it was the eyes, two rubies of deepest crimson forged over countless millennia. Her eyes met Ranma's and suddenly his heart stopped. He remembered quite suddenly where he had seen those eyes before, though they belonged to a woman much older than one standing at the front of the class. Somehow he couldn't help but feel as if he needed to know why she was here, as if her story would have some great effect on his fate.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the Nurse's Office, Serenity was watching gleefully as things unfolded on a small crystal ball she had made for just such a purpose. As she watched Ranma's reaction she couldn't help but wonder if she should have told Setsuna about the minor mutual attraction spell she had cast on the two of them or the contract she still possessed. But then were would be the fun in that?<p>

The students in the hallway quickly found better places to be when the sound of hysterical laughter drifted from the Nurse's office. Why did so many of their teachers have to be so dang crazy anyway?

* * *

><p>Considering how unexpected the new student was, they had had no time to prepare the classroom for her presence. And so when Ms. Hinako looked for an open seat and found none she asked if someone would share a desk until tomorrow. Unsurprisingly practically all the male students made a motion to raise their hands but froze at an entirely unexpected sight.<p>

Ranma inexplicably felt his hand rise up before any of the others. Apparently he wasn't the only one stunned by his act, as the rest of the class was staring at him with looks of shock and confusion. Akane though was fuming. She had seen how Ranma had been staring at the new student, heck he was practically undressing her with his eyes never mind the fact they had never left the new girl's face. The damn pervert was probably thinking of adding her to that damned harem of his.

Seeing Ranma's hand go up the smirk on Setsuna's face turned into a full-blown smile, it looked like that makes things a bit easier for her. She was glad she wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the Senshi for while, as she had told the Outers that she had been called away to deal with something and wouldn't be back for a while. At least that way she wouldn't have to worry about having any of them try and find her as that could damage her chances of bringing the boy to her side. _Their_ side, she quickly amended, to their side.

Even Ms. Hinako was taken aback by Ranma's participation as by this point he would have usually zoned out. To her credit though she didn't stay stunned for long and gestured for Setsuna to pull up a chair and sit next to Ranma, which she did with gusto, sliding her seat as close as possible to Ranma's. After digging around in her book bag for a moment she turned to Ranma with a pouting look on her face.

"It seems I don't have any of my text books, now what can I do?" She asked in a quiet, pleading tone. And let it not be said that Ranma has no resistance to anyone's feminine wiles, he resisted for a full two seconds before caving in. Sighing he pulled out his books and set them on the desk in front of them.

"Here, you can share mine." He said quietly. Then, after taking a furtive glance around them, leaned over and whispered into her ear. "So how did you manage to change your age in a day?"

It took nearly all of Setsuna's skill at keeping her calm to not to react to his words with more than a slight widening of her eyes and brief freezing of her movements that were nearly imperceptible. Unfortunately for her, nearly was not good enough when dealing with Ranma, as his eyes easily caught her signs of surprise. Neither of them said anything and merely kept their eyes focused on the writing on their respective pages.

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about. This is the first time I believe we have met." Setsuna said out of the side of her mouth in a stage whisper, as she kept her eyes on her page. Ranma gave a quiet snort of derision.

"Yeah right, an' how many chicks are there in Tokyo with looks like yours, I mean your really one of a kind ya know?" As Ranma was focusing on his page as he said that, he missed the blush that appeared on Setsuna's face from his words. Setsuna cast her own careful look around for eavesdroppers before leaning over to whisper to Ranma.

"I need you to keep that a secret and I'll explain more at lunch. But would you believe it was some magic mushrooms?" Setsuna had no idea why Serenity had told her to say that if Ranma got curious, but apparently it meant something to him as he gave her a look of sympathy before nodding in agreement. After that they both turned silently back to their work, with a quiet focus that unnerved Ms. Hinako and the rest of the class save Akane who had watched the whispered conversation with a growing rage.

* * *

><p><strong>Lunch.<strong>

The moment the bell rang to signal the beginning of lunch every single student was gone out of the classroom. Most went out in search of Nabiki to get scoop on why Ranma was at school early or information on the new student. For others, they went out in search of a place where they could eat their lunch in peace. And for one, it was time to hunt.

Her prey had escaped her before she could get close, one by taking his usual exit out the window and the other simply vanished into the crowd of students jamming the hallways. As the huntress made her way outside the sea of students parted way in front of her, none daring to stand in the way of fury incarnate.

She slammed her palms into the front doors as she approached nearly knocking them off their hinges as they burst open and impacted on the walls outside. She cast a quick glance over the yard before spotting her target, this time though there would be no-one getting in the way of his punishment.

Ranma having taken his usual path out of the classroom at the sound of the bell had easily reached his usual spot in the shade of one of the larger trees. Sitting down he pulled the bento Kasumi had made out of his subspace pocket and settled down to eat, keeping one eye open for a particular someone. He frowned into his food when she didn't show up with the rest of his class, where could she be…ah.

"You know, it's kinda rude to sneak up behind someone like that, one might think you were trying to scare 'em or something." Ranma said into the air causing those close enough to overhear him to give him strange looks. Well at least they did until a figure stepped out from the shadows around the tree a bemused smile in place on her face as she looked down at the martial artist who had yet to look up from his food.

Still smiling Setsuna sat down next to Ranma and pulled out her own bento. At his raised eyebrow she shrugged, "I've picked up a few things here and there." was all she said and really all that was needed to be said as the two sat in comfortable silence enjoying their meals. Well at least until Akane spotted them from across the school yard.

Both of them had noticed her the moment she exited the school but pretended not to notice her as she came closer. Though they seemed unaware of the coming danger, someone with a well-trained eye might have spotted the subtle signs of their muscles tensing in preparation for movement. All of the students near by had cleared a wide space the moment Akane had emerged, as it had long ago become drilled into them that such situations would generally result in large scale collateral damage to the environs.

Akane came to a stop in front of the two giving each of them a furious glare. If they were lesser persons such a glare would have crumbled away any resolve, but for these two, one who had gone headlong into the hottest flames and come out on top and the other with the strength of the Ages on her side, the glare was as effective as someone slapping a stone Buddha.

Her anger continued to build as the two sat in the shade calmly eating their lunches as if nothing was wrong. The entire yard had gone a deathly quiet, as if the air itself was holding its breath in anticipation of what was to come. Finally Ranma and Setsuna finished their meals, setting down their chopsticks and putting away the containers for later. Both of them then stood up, each giving Akane a calm look. Akane was about to deliver a scathing rant but was interrupted by a quiet and somewhat inane question from Setsuna.

"Excuse me, but are you by chance a martial artist?" The question caused everyone to stare at her, after all it was near impossible to go the school without hearing of the resident martial artists and though there were many better, Akane _was _counted among them. In fact even Akane was startled by the question, her anger fading slightly before being replaced by her own pride and ego, her own far outstripping that of Ranma's, who's own was justified by his skill.

"Uh huh, I'm one of the better ones here too!" She responded, her pride colouring her voice. Unfortunately for her she didn't notice the dark smirk that appeared on Setsuna's face, it still being in the shade meant that none save Ranma saw the smirk or the mischievous gleam in her eyes. Ranma did see it though, and he could also see what was going to happen next. He supposed he could stop it, but it would serve to give Akane a lesson that he couldn't bring himself to give to her.

"Well then, I would like to challenge you to a match." Setsuna said calmly as she stepped forwards out of the shade Ranma following behind her. "Would you care to set the terms?" Akane seeing a chance to prove herself as a martial artist, as well as eliminate some competition before she could establish herself, leapt right into Setsuna's trap.

"Hell yeah! And when I win you stay the hell away from _my _fiancé!" The smirk on Setsuna's face turned downright predatory, setting alarm bells ringing in Akane's mind. Setsuna suddenly stepped in close leaning towards her so that her breathe tickled the hairs on the back of Akane's neck.

"And who pray tell, is going to stop me?" She whispered her voice as cold as bare steel and just as sharp. Akane felt herself shiver as her legs went weak. Suddenly she felt as if she couldn't breathe, like some great weight was pressing down on her. She barely heard Ranma's voice speak from behind Setsuna's back.

"Ah lay off, if ya keep this up ya won't even get any exercise." Setsuna looked over her shoulder at the pig-tailed martial artist before shrugging and stepping past Akane who herself was taking great breaths. She didn't know what had happened but she was sure that the new girl had something to do with it. Her face purpling with a rage even stronger than before, she spun around to face Setsuna's back, her jaw working madly as she tried to strike back.

"You... You… _Kogal Whore!" _

There was the sound of rushing air as everyone who heard inhaled sharply. _That_ was a low blow, it was something not even Ranma would say during one of his fights. Setsuna herself had frozen mid-step, her face having gone completely blank.

"What did you call me?" She asked in a voice utterly devoid of expression. Akane gave her a victorious smirk, clearly she had hit a nerve and feeling particularly vindictive she decided to give the metaphorical knife a little twist.

"You heard what I said. Hey, if you leave now maybe you can get home in time to get ready for your evening job. Or you could stay here, I'm sure Kuno wouldn't mind you and he is rich after all." Akane was facing away from Setsuna as she said that, reveling in the feeling of triumph over her verbal sparring partner. Thus, she had no idea that Setsuna had turned around the moment she had started speaking, her face an indifferent mask of ice with burning eyes of crimson.

"Alright little girl, I accept your terms, but hear mine in return. When we fight, neither of us uses any special techniques, we settle this purely with our skill that is if you can match mine. If I win you drop that mockery you call an engagement as well as stop being a martial artist. Well, _brat?" _Setsuna spat the last word with enough venom to slay a dragon a thousand times over. Meanwhile Ranma was looking between the two girls as if they were live bombs, which perhaps they were. Normally he would have never allowed something like this to happen, as he had felt something for Akane, but after hearing the words she had said to girl they had just met, that feeling had died. And so he stood back and watched the disaster unfold before him.

Akane still high on the feeling of victory didn't register all of Setsuna's words merely that she had laid out her terms. Turning to face her opponent, her smug smile turned into a frown at the sight of her opponent. Baring her teeth, she gave a tight nod before getting into a stance. Setsuna didn't adopt one of her own, instead turning to Ranma who cocked his head.

"I demand for Saotome here to act as judge and referee. If either of us uses anything other than pure martial arts _including _ki attacks they forfeit. Agreed?" Akane gave another nod, but Setsuna shook her head. "I need you to agree out loud."

"Fine, I agree! Happy now?" Akane asked sarcastically. Setsuna allowed herself a ghost of a smile before she turned and looked at the gathered students.

"You have all heard the terms and rules, correct?" It took a moment for the crowd to realize they were being addressed, but when they did they nodded quickly. Setsuna turned back to Akane, the ghost of a smile now become her own near identical copy of Ranma's infuriating smirk. "Then let's begin."

Akane tensed up but when the expected attack failed to come she gave her opponent a withering look before charging at her with a roar. Seeing her opponent fail to move she let loose with a straight arm punch to head in an attempt to end the fight in one blow. Setsuna cocked her head to the side and let the blow slide past by bare inches, the air pressure ruffling her hair.

Infuriated Akane launched herself into a barrage of attacks, each of which Setsuna avoided with a simple movement. Ranma, from his position on the sidelines was staring at Setsuna with wide eyes. Every single move she dodged by a hair-thin movement, nothing much to look at in and of itself, but when all the moves were taken as a whole it was an awe-inspiring performance as Setsuna's body seemed to flow like water across the field. If he was right, than Setsuna was using a style he had only ever seen once before and she was using it better than the master he seen use it.

Akane let out a sound of frustration and redoubled her attacks, her one thought devoted to wiping that smirk off of her opponents face. Setsuna continued to dodge the now much wilder and more uncontrolled blows with ease. After another minute of dodging Akane had had enough, with a loud roar of anger she summoned her mallet and swung it at her opponent in the same motion. Seeing this Ranma was about to jump in and stop the fight, at least that's what he was going to do until he saw the subtle wink Setsuna gave him. Taking it for what it was, a signal to let her handle things, he relaxed and watched the fireworks.

Akane's attack would have been ridiculously easy to dodge, as even the most novice street brawler would have seen Akane telegraphing where the strike was going to hit the moment her attack started. Setsuna could have dodged it, but decided a little pain would make things sink in better and not because of how she had seen the girl treat her supposed ally in her briefing from Serenity.

Akane was expecting Setsuna to do one of several things, either block or dodge, or try and put some space between them. What she was not expecting was for Setsuna to move forwards as she took her own step forwards nor was she expecting the sudden palm strike to the chest, which nearly lifted her off her feet as Setsuna's other hand disarmed her. Stumbling back as she doubled over in an attempt to regain her breath she heard the sound of rushing air and looked up just in time to see the roundhouse kick that sent her into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>The yard was silent save for the sound of Akane's limp body hitting the ground several feet further than where she had last been conscious. The silence continued on for about a heartbeat before the yard erupted into sounds of disbelief and shock. There were also more than a few cries of sadness as people lost money they had placed on various outcomes. Nabiki herself was quite stunned as the only one she had ever seen fight like that had been Ranma himself and it was obvious to her that the new student had been holding back as much as Ranma did in any of his fights outside of Saffron, at least based on what she had heard.<p>

The crowd of students began to flow towards the combatants in a rush. A rush which considering Kuno was at the front of it had decidedly ill intentions for the victor of the duel. Ranma took one glance at Kuno's and some of the other students' faces and decided it would be best to get out of there as fast as possible. Grabbing Setsuna by the arm he swept her into a bridal carry and leapt off landing briefly on the wall surrounding the school before taking off again.

Nabiki watched the forms of the two dwindle in the distance as the gears of her mind churned at breakneck speeds. Nerima had just seen a seismic upheaval only surpassed by the arrival of Ranma a year and a half ago. Already her mind was hard at work in an attempt to calculate how much profit could be made from what had happened. Obviously the fiancées would want to know about their new rival as well as the fact that their primary competition had been knocked out and the rivals would also pay for anything regarding the wayward Saotome.

She couldn't help but bemoan the yen she would have to pay out to those who had bet against Akane though. Personally she felt that it was about time Akane was taken down a peg or two as she had gotten far worse at treating Ranma after Saffron and the Wedding incident. She mentally winced at the memory of her own none too small part in that disaster. She had since come to, if not care for, at least respect the pig-tailed martial artist for all he had done for the family. And seeing how he suffered through each day she couldn't help but wish him luck.

From her spot at one of second floor windows Serenity watched as the two took off into the distance a wide smile on her face. Things seemed to be moving a bit faster than expected, but she was more than prepared for any possibility. When dealing with Ranma Saotome one needed to be. Now, how to explain her presence to the Outers...

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile:<strong>

Having put what he considered was enough distance down between them and the school Ranma stopped his travelling on a hill at the edge of the town and set himself and Setsuna down on the grass beneath a tree. Leaning back he stared up at the clouds as he tried to think about what was going to happen to his screwed up life next. He couldn't go back to the Tendo's, at least not without being prepared to get eviscerated by the fathers for 'not looking out for your fiancée properly.' What to do, what to do, maybe Setsuna would let him stay for a while at her place...

Setsuna was still recovering from the sudden stop after having been moving at a pace that most cars would have a hard time matching, at least in the crowded streets of Tokyo. As she lay back against the roof she looked up into the sky and thought over what would happen next, things were moving so much more quickly than Serenity had planned. She hadn't expected herself to face off against the Tendo child like that so soon, but she simply couldn't let that little brat insult her and simply let it slide. And obviously the boy next to her would be without a home, although, there was still room at the house in Juuban...

Both turned to each other and at the same moment started to speak.

"Umm Setsuna-"

"Ranma I-"

They both cut off and turned away to hide their respective blushes. Setsuna recovered her composure first and turned back to face Ranma.

"Ranma, since you probably can't go back to where you were living, er, how would like to come live with me? I mean live at my house!" Setsuna corrected herself hastily as she blushed again. Ranma blinked, not quite seeing why she had felt the need to. He gave a mental shrug it was probably something he'd never figure out anyway so there was no need to bother thinking about it.

"Well, that was about what I was thinking. But what do I do about school? It's not like I can simply go back to Furinkan like nothing happened, right? And with my grades it's not like anywhere else will let me in." Surprisingly for those who knew him, Ranma was actually looking quite worried about not being able to go to school. Setsuna made a show of thinking the question over, as Serenity had already planned for when Ranma would desire to leave Nerima and had had the foresight to have Ranma's transferral files completed and "lost in bureaucracy", ready to be found when they were needed.

"Well, if you stay with me I can probably figure out a way of getting you into Juuban High." Ranma gave her a warm smile it was nice to see that there was somebody who wouldn't mind looking out for him. Of course that brought to mind the reason he had asked to meet her at lunch in the first place, before they had been, sidetracked.

"Uh, you said earlier you'd tell me what happened to you yesterday right? Oh and you mind telling me where ya learned that style you used against Akane?" Setsuna blinked at the abrupt change in topic as she stumbled over her response slightly.

"Oh…er, that's right. Well to start I am one of the Sailor Senshi of Juuban." Seeing his blank look she tried to explain the idea better. And she might as well give the whole explanation if he was to be their ally. "You see the Sailor Senshi are the reincarnations of the legendary guardians of a Kingdom that stretched across each planet in the solar system and beyond more than fifteen-thousand years ago. The reason why we aren't still living in it is because, while we were more than prepared against any invasion, we had next to no defense an attack from within. The ruler of Earth rebelled and struck against each of the planets rendering them uninhabitable before sacrificing millions in order to summon a horde of demons to break the last stronghold that was left the Moon. Nearly all of those craters are the scars from our last resort, a system of massive fusion bombs that would make the nuke dropped on Hiroshima look like a child's firecracker in comparison."

Ranma stared at her mutely as he tried to wrap his head around the ideas she presented before catching the almost wistful look she had as she looked up into the sky. Ranma looked up with her following her eyes to where he guessed correctly the moon lay hidden by clouds. Looking back down, he saw Setsuna's eyes glisten with unshed tears. As she continued on her voice was thick with emotion.

"That last attack of ours… it wiped nearly all of demons off the face of the Moon. But it was for naught, the entire kingdom lay in ruins and only three other than the few survivors of the sacrifices on Earth were left alive, the Queen, her daughter... and myself." Ranma's eyes widened in surprise but quickly wiped the look off of his face. Setsuna though had caught his surprise and gave him a sickly smile.

"Yes, I am far, far older than I appear. I am the Guardian of Time, and thus the only Senshi who can never truly die, for as long as time continues its endless march I am forced to exist along side it. And thus I was forced to watch as the leader of the demons and her generals having been left unscathed on Earth while they watched the attack from a distance, arrived in the throne room and proceeded to kill the princess in front of her mother. But my Queen had the last laugh, she sealed away the last of the demons until her daughter and the other guardians would be able to defeat her. And I, I was forced to live a thousand lifetimes, watch all those who knew me time and time again grow old and pass in time."

Ranma, seeing how distraught Setsuna was did something he had not done in all the years he had been alive. He leaned over and embraced her, letting her rest her cheek against his shoulder as she let loose a few silent tears. As he held her close he tried to comfort her by running his fingers through her hair. As he inhaled his nose took in the scent of her hair, a unique scent that reminded him of the air in forests after a long rain.

Holding her body tight against the silent sobs that escaped her, Ranma whispered words of comfort in her ear. He had no idea what compelled him to say the words nor where they had come from in the first place but in that moment he knew that it simply felt right. "Ssh, you don't need to cry. You're not alone, not any more. As long as I'm here, you'll never be alone, I swear it."

Setsuna froze, Ranma easily feeling the tensing of her muscles through the tight embrace they shared. She raised her head off his shoulder and gave him a piercing look that seemed to penetrate right to the very core of his being.

"Do, do you mean that?" She asked in a small voice. Ranma smiled and ran his hand soothingly across her hair. His eyes seemed to focus on a distant point beyond her as he replied with how he felt, a touch of wonder in his voice.

"Yeah, I think I do." And he really did think that, and even though he wasn't entirely sure why, he didn't mind it one bit. The stayed in the embrace for a few minutes more, Ranma's thoughts distant and Setsuna simply enjoying the comfort the position brought her. Finally Setsuna eased her self out of Ranma's arms, the action serving to snap him out of his thoughts.

The two sat apart for a moment more, only now noticing the fading light as the Sun had set while they were focused on other things. The two of them simply enjoyed the quiet, both watching as the stars slowly came out and the lights of the city turned on. They sat there silently until the moon came out from behind a cloud, its light casting a ghostly illumination on the hill, sending shadows dancing as clouds flew beneath the moon's pale light. Setsuna eventually broke the silence, her voice quiet and without a hint of the immense outpouring of emotion she had only recently let out.

"I asked you earlier if you wanted to come with me. I'm sure my roommates won't mind. But, even if they do I'm sure you could stay. So will you come with me?"

Ranma took a moment to think about it. He could leave Nerima leave behind all the fiancées and rivals and challengers and problems his father had caused. He could leave behind the Amazons, Ukyo and the Tendos. It wasn't likely that he could leave Ryoga for long, as he seemed to get lost and wind up where-ever Ranma was no matter what. Leaving, it was something he had dreamed of doing so very often on the long nights after even longer days in the last year and a half in Nerima. In the end his answer was quick and certain.

"Yes."

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed reading this as much, if not more, as I did in writing it. Next things I'm working on are <strong>Mahora One Half<strong>, and yes, that is exactly what it sounds like, and a story titled: **Take the Red and Run**. I will give a prize to whoever is able to correctly guess what that story is about.

The Akane fight was just supposed to be a simple, oh Setsuna can fight, scene, which would later lead to a fight between her and Shampoo that show off more of her true skills, but it turned into a whole massive, this is how Akane loses Ranma, scene. Weird huh?

Note: I'll put this in here, as it applies to this chapter and any further chapters:

Any of the Martial Arts that Setsuna knows are borrowed *cough* stolen *cough* from the Anima-Beyond Fantasy rulebook. Any spells that she or Serenity use are also taken *cough* like a high-way robbery *cough* from the above mentioned book as well as the Dungeons and Dragons player's handbook.

Style used in this chapter: Shephon. Inspired by flowing water, this style uses free-flowing mvements that can allow a master to avoid or redirect any attack. Believed to be the most perfect system of defense that existed but is thought to have died out during the 1600s.

Flames will be used to heat my house; it gets kinda cold up here in Canada.

**!REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 3: Where is the Edge

**A/N: Mwahahahahaha! ! ! ! Tremble for I have returned from the world that lies beyond the shadows of infinity! **

**Also, epic foreshadowing is epic.**

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><p><em>We were wrong.<em>

_We, in our arrogance, thought  
>we were the Masters of this World.<em>

_But we had only forgotten the Truth...  
>Or did not want to see it.<em>

_They were here all along._

_Fairy Tales. Nightmares. _

_They were all real._

_We exist...For now,  
>but only until 'They' return.<em>

_They...  
><em>

_Those who walked amongst us..._

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><p>Ranma and Setsuna sat quietly on the rooftop, watching as the sun slowly sunk below the horizon. The two of them were both considering the events that had occured earlier in the afternoon, and what it meant for them. Setsuna was mentally berating herself for showing such an excessive display of emotion, something she had thought she had gained a handle on after several thousand years of being, for the most part, alone. Somehow she had a feeling that Serenity had something to do with it, but she for the moment she couldn't bring it in herself to go after her friend, at least not yet.<p>

Ranma on the other hand was in a near blind panic, though outwardly his face betrayed none of his inner turmoil. he was trying his hardest to figure a way out of the trouble that was surely awaiting him once he returned to the Dojo. And he didn't even want to hazard a guess at what Shampoo and the rest of the Nerima gang would do once they found out about his new friend, especially considering she was good enough to lay out Akane, well with the amount of skill she displayed that is.

Setsuna broke the gentle silence first, the sudden noise causing Ranma to tense slightly before relaxing as he realized who made the noise, the action not going unnoticed by the physically young woman next to him. She frowned at the action, or more accurately, at the causes for such an ingrained reaction. "I, I'll need some time to prepare everything, before you can move to Minato with me, including getting your transfer set up for changing schools, though I have a sneaking suspicion, er, that's not important right now. Anyway, do you think you can survive a day or two here?"

Ranma thought about it. While he knew that the father's would be on his case the moment he got back, not to mention Akane, he could probably count on Kasui to help keep things under control, his mother too if she was there. Although, that brought its own set of problems to the table, but, nothing he couldn't deal. In fact his mother would probably be proud of him and start going off about how "Manly" he was. All things considered, he'd much rather deal with his mother over the rest of the circus.

"Yeah," He said finally."I think I can do that. We'll still be meetin at school though, right?" Setsuna nodded.

"Yes, at least until you can switch over schools and go to one near Juuban, I think it would be best if I stuck around to help out. From what I know of your life, what I did to Akane earlier certainly won't make things any easier for you." Both teens, teenagers solely in body, shared a dark chuckle, before Ranma sighed and leaned back to lie on the roof.

"Yeah, that would be great. Hey, you know what? I think I got a way to avoid dealing with the riot act the old men are gonna try to dump on me." Setsuna turned to Ranma and propped her chin up with her hand, her elbow resting on the tile roof.

"Oh, and what way is that?" Ranma smiled, though it was muted as his mind continued on its current train of thought.

"Well, I'm thinking that maybe it would be best if went to stay with mom for a bit, if she's around pops won't have the guts to pull anything, and that means old man Tendo won't try anything either. That still leaves the Amazons, but I think I can deal with them."

"If you don't mind, I would quite enjoy helping you deal with these Amazons. Considering their origins, its partially my responsibility as one of the Senshi." Ranma blinked and turned to look into Setsuna's eyes, a curious expression on his face.

"What do you mean, your responsibility?" Taking a page out of Ranma's book, Setsuna scratched the back of her head, embarrassed.

"The Amazons were a military company that served directly under one of the Senshi, the Senshi of Venus in particular. Unfortunately it seems they took her teachings much further than they were supposed to, though I suppose after several millennia things could get a little bit lost in translation." Setsuna winced at the reminder of her agelessness.

Ranma couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. "Let me guess, she was one of those kind of girls who treat men like a flavour of the day ice cream, right?"

"She wasn't quite that bad, it was more like flavour of the week." Both teenagers, though teenagers solely in body, shared a laugh. "But yes, she was a little bit like that, still is actually. Reincarnating did only a little to mute that aspect of personality."

"Well," Ranma gave Setsuna a wry smile, "So long as she doesn't try to marry me, I think we'll get along alright." His face suddenly went slack as a thought hit him. "She won't try to marry me, right?" His eye began to twitch as Setsuna bit her lip and turned away instead of answering. "Oh come on, not another one!" Quietly, he put his head in his hands and sighed, though he still noticed Setsuna turning back around, a playful smile on her face. **  
><strong>

"I don't think I have anything at the Tendo's that I can't do without for a day or two, so I might as well head home. I'd ask if you needed a lift to your place," Ranma said as he stood up, Setsuna doing the same," but I'm pretty sure you don't need it with that teleporting trick you got. 'Sides, I don't even know where you live."

"Ah Senny went and rented a place out here for a while, but she only gave me the rough idea of where it is based on its surroundings. YOu wouldn't happen to know where there's a small two story, black-tiled and red painted house would you?" Ranma froze up where he stood, a strange look on his face.

"This house, it wouldn't happen be next to a blue-painted one, with a small dojo off to the side of it, would it? And a small convenience store across the street? " Setsuna gave a surprised blink.

"That's what she said, you know where it is then?" Ranma palmed his face, before letting out another sigh.

"Yeah, I do actually." He removed his hand and gave Setsuna a tired smile. "Looks like we'll be heading off together anyway, since my mom's place happens to be the house with the dojo." As Setsuna stood there stunned, and already contemplating ways to make a certain silver-haired woman pay, Ranma hopped off the roof, landing on a nearby wall that he used to soften his landing, before rolling off of the wall and dropping to his feet on the street.

Setsuna followed a moment later, though she took a less flashy, in a way, route down, simply teleporting to the ground next to Ranma. Wordlessly, they began making their way through the darkening streets. As they were passing an alleyway, its entrance enshrouded by darkness that the streetlights failed to penetrate, they both froze, their muscles tensing, as the sound of movement filled the air.

Emerging from the shadows, like spectral phantoms, came a group of men, men who had clearly fallen on hard times. Each of them was dressed in tattered and dirtied clothing, and from the way they moved, it was clear that they were more than a little inebriated. As they approached, they each pulled out various weapons, a busted pipe here, a small knife or length of chain there.

Both Setsuna and Ranma mentally groaned as the thug with the knife brought it to his lips and gave it a lick with his tongue. It was bad enough that they had deal with these guys, but they could at least have tried to be original, instead of walking stereotypes. One of the other thugs gave a deep rumbling laugh as he hefted the large broken bar of iron, from what most likely used to be part of a building, his eyes tracing the curves of Setsuna's body.

"Well well, yer a pretty lil' thingy,ain't ya? How's about you leave the stiff over there and come hang with some real men. Come on girley, we'll show a great time." Setsuna and Ranma shared a look, before turning back to the thugs. Smirking, Setsuna gave a wave of her hand towards them.

"They're all yours, after all you were the one they insulted, so its only fair." Ranma smirked as he cracked his knuckles, his body moving until he stood between the thugs and Setsuna.

"You know what, just for that, I'll show ya something special. Couldn't use it for the longest while, but after all the stuff I went through, it got real easy." Ranma gave a shrug, his attention firmly focused on his opponents. The lead thug gave another laugh, completely self-assured in his victory, after all, the guy in front of him was outnumbered, and they had weapons too.

The thug with the length of pipe moved first, charging forward with a wordless shout. Ranma met him halfway, sidestepping his swing and slamming a palm into the the small of the thug's back. The shout died off as the thug's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, bonelessly, to the cold ground. Ranma paid his fallen foe no regard, already moving against the remaining opponents.

The next two attacked in concert, one moving in from Ranma's left and the other from his right. Against any normal teenager, this tactic would have worked, but they weren't up against a normal teenager, they had the ill-timing to have called out one of the world's greatest martial artists. Ducking under the sloppy punch from the thug on the left, Ranma quickly tapped a palm against his chest, before spinning around and slamming his heel into other thug's face, the blow sending him tumbling backwards into the alley, a loud crack sounding as his head impacted against the wall.

That left only two thugs, the one with the length of chain, and the leader who had drawn the knife. The thug with the chain gave a loud roar as he moved to engage Ranma, one arm shoving the other thug to the side as he went past him. Twirling the chain until it whistled through the air, the thug whipped it forwards, his jaw dropping in astonishment as Ranma caught it before it could touch him. Ranma gave the chain a quick tug, and as the thug stumbled forwards, he leaned over and tapped him on the back of the head with two of his fingers.

The last thug started shaking as Ranma began to slowly approach him, the thug with the chain remaining on the ground, unmoving. His eyes flicked between the two figures rapidly, before his fear got the better of him, his knife clattering to the ground forgotten as he turned and ran for all his worth. He didn't get more than a few feet before suddenly come to a stop as he ran into something, his breath knocked out of him as he fell backwards onto the ground. He gave his head a shake, and then froze as he looked up into Ranma's cold eyes.

The thug began to shake again as Ranma slowly stretched out a hand, one finger extended. The thug felt the finger touch his brow followed by a strange tugging sensation, and then all faded to black.

* * *

><p>Setsuna watched quietly as Ranma slowly stepped back from the now unconscious thug, her brows raised in surprise. There was no surprise in the fact that he defeated the thugs, nor in how quickly and easily he did so, but the manner in which he defeated them was incredibly interesting. With nothing but time on her hands, she spent a large portion of it finding various masters in history, masters of blacksmithing, of painting, and of martial arts, and learning from them.<p>

That wasn't to say she knew every style, some simply did not suit her style of combat, and while she had more time than most, time still passed and her eyes were not all-seeing. But even then she had heard of the style that Ranma had just displayed an incredibly intimate knowledge of, if only by rumour and hearsay. A style created in ages past, the originators of the art hidden in darkness, a style that enabled the user to not only strike the body of his opponent, but to also strike directly at his ki, rendering even a blocked blow potentially fatal.

Ranma smirked as he walked back to Setsuna, his head gesturing back towards the direction they had been originally been heading in, before their minor detour. As Setsuna fell in step with him, he caught sight of the expression on her face and gave her a bright smile. "Heh, when I watched you beat Akane earlier, you used some pretty rare moves, so I thought it would only be fair if I did the same."

Setsuna smiled, though internally she was surprised by the fact that he managed to recognize the style she had used, a style that she had learned from its original master more than eight centuries previous. "I will admit I was impressed, but I still wonder, how do you actually do that? Oh I know it has nothing to do with the physical aspect of things, even I could copy those moves you used, but how did you get your attacks to affect their ki like that?"

Ranma's eyes brightened at Setsuna's insightful comment. He was happy and excited, for the first time he actually had someone with whom he could discuss the more esoteric points of martial arts, and would actually be able to understand and give back intelligent responses, unlike most people he knew, not that they weren't smart enough, but they either lacked the necessary knowledge, or he wasn't willing to risk the problems they would cause him.

"Like I said, it took me a while, but after I learned how to do the Soul of Ice, and after I 'experienced'," Ranma spat the word with distate, "Happosai's drain techniques, both the one he uses, and the one Hinako-sensei uses, I figured out the trick to it. You see, when my pops first found the scroll, he tried it out, and of course he went nowhere fast. So I decided to take a crack at it, and for the longest time, I thought that somehow you had to be able to drain your opponents ki, which you can do, but it doesn't have the same affect. The trick of it is to combine the ability to affect another person's ki, thanks to Happosai, with the ability to create a ki void, thanks to the Amazons. And when you combine the two of them..." Ranma trailed off with a smile.

Setsuna's eyes widened as she followed the train of thought to its inevitable conclusion. "When you combine them, you can create ki voids inside your opponents ki flows. With the right placement you can disrupt the primary flows that control any part of another person's body. You can shut them down with a single touch."

Ranma shook his head. "Not quite, anyone with halfway decent ki control or reserves can just ignore the ki voids and either redirect their flows, consciously or unconsciously, or simply fill them with their own ki and keep on fighting. I'd have to stay in contact for more than a few seconds to make a ki void large enough, and even then it could potentially kill them if I misjudge it by even the littlest bit." Setsuna gave Ranma a surprised look.

From what Senny had shown her, and what she had seen while observing him on her own, when she was judging on whether or not he might be a potential enemy, she had never seen this kind of intelligence in Ranma. That's not to say it wasn't there, this conversation proving its existence beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it simply did not appear to have any outward effect in any portion of his life outside of martial arts. And even considering the fact that they were discussing martial arts techniques, the strength of mind necessary to calculate exactly how a large a ki void to create in mere seconds of contact, and against multiple opponents who each possessed varying amounts of ki, was absolutely staggering.

That knowledge alone made Setsuna glad that she had never made an enemy out of Ranma, either on purpose or by accident, as she had no doubt that he would be able to defeat all the Senshi in turn, even possibly herself. And that was a truly sobering thought, after so many centuries of being practically untouchable to any opponent, and then along comes a young man a bare fraction of her age, and he matches her skill without even meaning to, or even knowing the magnitude of the fact.

"Th-that's incredible." A mischievous twinkle came to Setsuna's eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be keeping any other secrets from me, would you? And here I thought we were friends." Setsuna gave a melodramatic sigh as she clasped her hands in front of her. Ranma continued walking, his eyes fixed dead straight ahead. Finally, he cursed himself as he gave in and turned to look at Setsuna, wincing at the look on her face, the pout with the wiggling lip that was the bane of many a man, and more then a few women too.

And of course, Ranma reacted with all his hard-earned eloquence. "Gah!" He recoiled in a mix of terror and something that felt strangely like guilt. Shuddering, he closed his eyes and swore that whenever he was in his cursed he would never use that expression, it was simply too cruel. "Hey, I'm not gonna tell you everything I know, no matter how good a friend you are. I mean, if I tell you everything, then I'll miss the looks on your face when I surprise you with them."

Setsuna let out a sigh at Ranma's somewhat faulty, yet in the end accurate enough, manner of thinking. "Fine, don't tell me then. But that means I don't have to tell you about what I know either." She chuckled quietly at the pout that stole its way onto Ranma's face.

"Fair enough, I guess. But only if you show some of Senshi party tricks of yours." Setsuna reared back in indignation. Ranma smirked as Setsuna began to practically froth at the mouth.

"T-tricks? You called some of the most powerful spells ever learned by the race of men,_ party tricks_?" And then, in a blink, the anger was gone, replaced with a coolness that Ranma though only possible through the use of the Soul of Ice. The nasty smile that had grown on Setsuna's face did nothing to assuage his fears.

"You want to see a neat trick?" Ranma swallowed at the measured levelness of Setsuna's voice." How about I make you disappear. _Dead. Scream."_ Ranma barely had time to blink as his eyes suddenly were filled with a giant ball of fluctuating energy. All he had time for before it hit him was to increase his body's defenses with ki, and even then the blast from the ball as it came in contact with him caused him no small amount of pain. The fact that the explosion had send his body tumbling backwards into a nearby stone wall also may have had something to do with the pain he was feeling.

"Owie." He whimpered as he slowly peeled himself out of the person shaped indentation in the wall. His shook his head to clear away the spots in his vision, before looking around and finding Setsuna slowly making her way down the street. As he hustled to catch up with her, he made sure to remind himself to never get Setsuna angry, or to call her moves 'little tricks', because he sure as heck didn't want that to happen again.

* * *

><p>When Akane stormed through the front door and straight into the dojo, all while she ignored the shouted questions from both of the fathers, Kasumi knew something had happened, again. And when Ranma failed to arrive after more than an hour, she started to become more than a little bit worried. Things weren't following their usual pattern, and to be quite frank, that frightened Kasumi.<p>

While she failed to find the positive side of her dear sister's outright antagonism of Ranma, especially after all he had done for the family, and Akane in particular, she was worried that Akane had done something truly horrible for Ranma not to return. The more time passed, the more nervous Kasumi became. She had to leave the kitchen at one point because her hands were shaking too much for her to handle the knives.

She nearly collapsed with relief when she heard the sound of the door opening again, though she tensed up slightly when she saw that it was only Nabiki. She bit her lip in thought, before quickly grabbing her sister by the arm and dragging her into the kitchen as soon as she had removed her shoes. Nabiki stared at her sister in shock, as for the first time in her memory her sister seemed completely out of sorts.

Kasumi anxiously twisted her dress between her hands as her eyes eyes darted around nervously. "D-did something happen at school today?" Nabiki blinked at Kasumi's quiet question. She gave her a tentative nod.

"You could say that. Akane's class got a new transfer student today, and she was hanging out with Ranma at lunch." Kasumi sighed and stopped her fidgeting with a look of distaste.

"And I suppose Akane-chan didn't approve, did she?" Nabiki grimaced at Kasumi's understatement.

"No, she didn't at all. Didn't help that the new girl pulled some kind of move on our dear sweet sister after she challenged her to a duel. Whatever it was, it was pretty impressive, because Akane stopped cold, looking like she was about to faint. You know," Nabiki paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face. "I wonder if she;d be willing to share how she did that, I could probably even more out of Kuno if I used every once in a while."

Kasumi narrowed her eyes and gave her younger sister a disapproving look."Nabiki, how many times have I told you not to take advantage of that poor boy?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "More times than I can count, and besides, he's the one that comes to me. Anyway, Akane flipped out after whatever the new girl did and decided to do the smart thing and insulted the girl who just had her terrified." Nabiki sarcastically drawled, causing Kasumi to shake her head at her sister's foolishness.

"Is that all? While I can see how that might upset her, there doesn't seem to be a reason for her to be still so angry." Nabiki cocked her head to side as she gave Kasumi a curious look.

"I didn't know she was still upset, but it makes sense, I suppose. The new girl turned around and rechallenged Akane after she was insulted and Akane was stupid enough to wager both the Art and the Engagement on the outcome." Now it was Nabiki's turn to shake her head at her sister's stupidity. "Suffice to say, she lost, badly. And afterwards, Ranma took off with the new girl and nobody's seen either of them since and trust me," Nabiki gave a small huff of frustration, "I've tried everywhere."

Kasumi was quiet as she digested Nabiki's words. While she could see why Akane would be upset, it still gave her no right to what she did, and from the sounds of things, it seems that she received what was coming to her for her actions. On the other hand, she was more than a little worried about Ranma, after all, when things like this happened it was only a matter of time before some rival showed up gunning for him.

With a sigh, Kasumi turned and walked over to a cabinet, opening it and removing various boxes and containers before withdrawing a small glass bottle of sake. To her sister's disbelief, after quickly popping off the lid, Kasumi raised the bottle to her lips and took a large swig of the sake. Kasumi raised one hand to rub between her eyes, as she stared off into the the distance.

Though the rest of the family may have been unaware of the fact, Kasumi had known for a long time that things between Ranma and her sister were doomed to failure, she had seen that after the night they had arrived. She also knew that once Ranma left things would most likely begin to fall apart without his stabilizing presence, as if there was one thing that could be said about Ranma Saotome, it was that he dealt with things thoroughly and completely.

One hand still clutching the bottle, she walked past a gobsmacked Nabiki towards the door to the kitchen, before pausing at the edge and giving her sister a look over her shoulder. "Nabiki-chan, could you call for take-out. I'm not feeling up to cooking this evening, and I without Ranma here, I doubt any of you are up to stomaching Akane's cooking." Before Nabiki could gather herself for a rational response, Kasumi left the room and headed up the stairs towards her room.

She paused as she passed by Akane's door, giving it a considering look before continuing on. Without putting down the bottle she quietly entered her room and closed the door, setting the sake down for just as long as it took for her to change into her sleepwear. As she dropped tiredly into her bed, she raised the bottle to sky in a toast.

"To Ranma, may he finally find his own happiness." She smiled as she took another, smaller, swig of the sake. She did hope things worked out for the boy, sometimes he felt so much like that little brother she never had. And with the way things were most likely going to go now that he was gone, it might be a good time to take Saotome-san up on that offer she had made. She chuckled quietly to herself in the comforting darkness of her room, after all, wouldn't that be quite the surprise for Ranma.

She gave another chuckle that turned into a yawn, her eyes already beginning to drift closed as she turned over and clutched the sake bottle closer to herself. As she wormed herself deeper into the warmth of her bed, she couldn't help but think warmly of finally having a job working for someone who appreciated her. With a warm grin on her face, she finally drifted off into her dreams of a pleasant future.

* * *

><p>"So this is my place, and I'm guessing that's yours over there?" Ranma stated more than asked as he pointed towards the two houses that stood next door to each other. Setsuna frowned before pulling out a small picture from one of her pockets. She gave a quick look before grimacing and placing it back in her pocket.<p>

"Yes, and it seems Senny's sense of humour hasn't changed a bit after dying." Ranma raised a brow at her words, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes. "The picture was shot from exactly where we're standing, with the exact distance in the shot as we have with our own eyes." Ranma nodded in understanding before turning to look at the houses again.

"Well, it looks like no-ones home next door, so why don't you come in for a bit?" Now it was Setsuna's turn to raise a brow, though it was more in surprise than confusion over his words. She gave one last look at the house where she was to stay, before shrugging and heading towards Ranma's mother's house. As they walked up the steps and Ranma knocked on the door, Setsuna couldn't help but think she was forgetting something, something vaguely important.

When no-one came to the door, Ranma turned and gave Setsuna a shrug before opening it and stepping in. As Setsuna followed him in, he called out as he removed his shoes. "Hey mom! I'm home! You here?"

"I'm in the living room dear." Ranma blinked at his mother's response. As he headed over towards the living room door, Setsuna felt that nagging feeling intensify, yet she still couldn't put a finger on the why of it. As Ranma entered the room, followed closely behind by Setsuna, he was caught off guard as his mother grabbed him in a flying tackle.

"Waaah! My manly son! So manly!" Setsuna winced as she recalled why she had been feeling so uncomfortable. At the sound of quiet chuckling her eyes snapped up and scanned the room, before settling on the room's other occupant. Setsuna felt her jaw clench as Serenity gave her a smile and casual wave before turning to face Nodoka.

"Now Saotome-san, what did we just finish speaking about?" At Serenity's words Nodoka immediately let go of Ranma, while still staying close to him, and calmed down considerable. Ranma's jaw dropped as he stared between the two women in shock. Nodoka gave her son a reproving look before shaking her head in amusement.

"I remember Tsukinojoō-san, but it was still so much fun to work up my son like that." She gave her son a warm smile as she moved back to her seat across from Serenity, patting the one next to hers as she sat down. Still somewhat shaken, Ranma nevertheless followed his mother's unspoken request. Setsuna took the seat opposite him and adjacent to Serenity, who was given a particularly dark look.

Nodoka sat there for a moment before she realized that she had yet to introduce her son to her new neighbour. "Before it slips my mind again, Ranma I'd like you to meet Tsukinojoō-san, she just moved in next door. She's also spent the afternoon helping me realize just how wrong my views about things were." Her expression turned somber as she stared into her son's incredulous eyes. "I apologize for what I have put you through my son, I hope you can forgive me for my misguided actions."

Ranma stared at his mother for several seconds in utter and complete disbelief, hell even Setsuna was beyond surprised by the turn of events. Ranma twitched in his seat, before moving to engulf his mother in a not quite bone breaking embrace, as if he desired to, he could in fact do so. Serenity and Setsuna both looked on, one with an amused expression on her face, and the other with a decidedly less energetic look.

After a while, Ranma and his mother broke apart, though Ranma kept an arm around her shoulders. He chuckled sheepishly at the deadpan look he got from Setsuna, before turning back to his mother. "So, not that I'm complainin' or nothin', but what the heck happened? I mean, your like a completely different person then the last ime I saw you."

Ranma blinked as his mother gave him a sheepish smile while scratching the back of her neck. He had always wondered where he had gotten that from. Nodoka's eyes slid over towards Serenity. "Well, I have my new neighbor to thank for that. After she moved in, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself. We got to talking and eventually I mentioned you, which lead to, well let's just say more than a few corrections about how I saw things. I'm glad she moved in when she did, if she hadn't," the smile on her face turned sad and bitter.

"If she hadn't I'm sure that I, as well as all of your father's additional engagements, which I will deal with at a later time, would have put so much pressure on you that you would have broken. I can never thank Tsukinojoō-san enough for opening my eyes before that possibility could come to pass." Her smile turned warm as she wrapped an arm of her own around Ranma. "Besides, I'm much more likely to get grandbabies this way!"

Ranma shook his head in false anguish as Nodoka and the others in the room began to laugh. When they had calmed down a bit, Ranma turned towards Serenity with a serious look on his face, a knowing smile of her own on her face as she met his gaze. They stayed that way for a moment, exchanging the silent words of an unheard conversation, before Ranma gave a subtle incline of his head, to which Serenity's smile widened.

The serious expression still in place, Ranma looked towards his mother, the expression melting into a warm smile. "So, umm, about why I'm here." Nodoka blinked as it finally occurred to her that Ranma's presence was in fact quite out of the ordinary, though she could be forgiven as her mind was still a whirl with enlightenment.

"That's right, why are you here dear? Though I have no problem with it, I am still wondering why you are here instead of the Tendo's." Before today, Nodoka would have most likely missed the quick flicker of anger and frustration that stole across her son's face for less than a moment, but not after having her eyes opened to the world around her. "Dear, did something occur with one of the Tendos?"

Ranma winced at his mother's tone. "You could say that. Akane may have done something royally stupid, although," Ranma paused as a thoughtful expression came over his face, "now that I think about it, it was just Akane being Akane again."

Nodoka raised an eyebrow." Oh, and just what do you mean by that?"

Ranma gave her an exaggerated roll of his eyes, unaware of the way his mother leaned closer, or the way Serenity's eyes turned cold at the mention of Akane's name. "Well, it was just like every other day, I'm out eatin' lunch when Setsuna comes over and sits down next to me, an' usually its either Ucch-Ukyo, " The eyes of the women in the room narrowed at Ranma's hasty self-correction of his usual manner of address concerning Ukyo. Ranma quickly pushed on before any of them could call him on it though.

"Either her or Shampoo givin' me food or somethin', but over comes Akane, an' she's all furious cus I ran into Setsuna before and acted like I actually knew a girl other than Akane or her sisters. So she comes over all pissed at me for actually payin someone attention, an when Setsy," his attention focused on his mother as it was, Ranma failed to notice the start both Serenity and Setsuna gave at the all too familiar nickname. " She offered a match with Akane, an' then she gave Akane a bit of a scare when she was bein' an ass about the terms an everything, then Akane went an' insulted her, an' real low blow too."

Nodoka looked over to Setsuna, who responded with a grim nod of confirmation. She frowned as her son continued with the story, as the more she heard about the youngest Tendo, the more angry she got, not only with Akane and her husband for forcing the girl onto her son, but at herself for doing much the same, and for the worst reasons.

"Like I was sayin', Akane goes for a cheap shot, an' she's lucky she didn't say somethin' like that to me, or I woulda done a lot worse then just knocked her out. I mean, look at what happened last time Taro showed up. What Akane said was even worse." Nodoka shuddered. She had in fact seen that battle, and its outcome, and after her son had told her what the other boy had said she could understand why he did what he had. And if what Akane had said _was _worse, then could certainly see someone getting more than a little furious over it.

"An' that kinda brings me ta the whole point. Before Akane, er, shot herself in the foot, she put down her terms, so Setsuna turned around and offered her terms after she was insulted. So, Setsy won, which kinda means, well, Akanecantpracticemartialarts anymoreandshesnolongermyfian ce. " The women in the room blinked as they tried to decipher Ranma's rushed words, though the task was easier for Setsuna, as she had to deal with someone who spoke like that on quite the regular basis, though with at least a little spacing between the words.

Nodoka gave a weak chuckle. "I can see how things might be tough then. Especially once Soun and your father hear about it." She and Ranma shared a wince. "I'll be sure to deal with him later. It seems he neglected to mention some things about your training trip as well the fact that he made certain, additional engagements on my behalf."

Ranma cocked his head to the side in confusion. "On your behalf?"

"Yes, it seems that my dear husband made more than a few contracts while you two were traveling under the authority as the head of the clan." Ranma gave his mother a surprised look.

"Wait a sec, you mean he isn't?" Ranma blurted out incredulously. Nodoka gave him another shake of her head.

"No, he married into the family, and since my father, your grandfather, had no other children, I inherited the position when he passed away. Of course that didn't seem to stop him, and that is something I'll be sure to address next time I see him." Ranma opened his mouth at the way his mother looked pointedly towards the Saotome family sword, resting on a stand beneath a wrapped scroll on a small shelf.

However, what came out of his mouth was not the call for clemency he had initially been planning on saying. "Eh, it'll serve the old man right. 'Bout time he got what was comin' to him. So you don't mind if I stay here for a bit, right?"

Nodoka gave her son another smile. "Not at all, I would be sorely remiss to pass up an opportunity to get to know my son better. Oh, and Tsukinojoō-san told me you were planning to change schools? After what you told me you had to deal with, I can understand why, though it is still quite surprising."

Ranma gave the silver haired woman a look of surprise, and no small amount of suspicion. He had only decided to change schools after spending a bit of time with Setsuna, and neither of them had spoken to her, or at least he hadn't. Shaking it off, and making a mental note to check with Setsuna about it later, he returned his attention to his mother.

"Yeah, I've been thinkin' for a while now, but, I'm gonna need to get a job at some point, cus it doesn't look like the dojo is goin' to work out, heck I figured that ages ago. So I'm gonna need to get a job, and to do that I need to make sure that I have a good edu- oh what's the word I'm lookin' for?"

"Education dear. And I can see that it would do you some good to improve your mind as well as your body. And you can't get that from your current school?" Ranma gave his mom a shake of his head.

"If I was sure I could go more than half a day without some thug or wannabe coming out of the woodwork, then I'd stay. But I haven't had more than a single week's worth of interruption free school since I've been here. Honestly, its gotten real old, and I really don't want to keep having to save Akane from whoever decides to kidnap her." Ranma muttered the last part with an unsurprising bitterness.

Nodoka nodded sagely. "Very well, and though I hate to return to my former manner, I would consider it very 'manly' of you to complete a proper education. Do you have another school in mind?"

Ranma gave Setsuna a sidelong glance. "Yeah, actually. I was kinda planning to go to the high school over in Juuban." Nodoka gave her son a surprised look.

"Juuban, why there? And where will you stay?" Ranma licked his lips, thankful for the fact that his mother would, now, take this a little bit better than she would have before hand.

"Uh, Setsuna offered me a room at her place." Nodoka blinked, the corner's of her mouth twitching, as were her hands. She opened her mouth only to close it a moment later.

"T-that's very nice of her dear. But is it really alright to be staying with a young lady for such a long period of time?" Though her words contained a more than fair share of maternal worry and pride, there was still an undertone of eagerness to them.

"Huh, sure. Sides, its not like we'll be the only ones there, Setsuna said she shares the place with some of her friends." Nodoka deflated a bit but gave her son a warm smile.

"Alright then. But make sure you come and visit me sometimes, I've only just found you and it wouldn't do have you leave for another ten years, now would it? It would be such a shame to declare you unmanly for ignoring his mother." Ranma choked on his spit, before noticing the teasing smile on his mother's face.

Ranma gave his mother a flat look. "Yeah," he deadpanned " that would be a real shame. I don't think I could survive the afterlife knowing I had caused my beloved mother such torment." He held the look for several seconds, the entire room silent save for the sound of breathing. Ranma's mouth began to twitch as first Serenity, and then Setsuna began to quietly snicker, before bursting into outright laughter.

Ranma tried in vain to hold onto his self-control, but when his mother joined the laughing pair, he couldn't last much longer and soon followed suit. Eventually, the excitement wound down and Ranma found himself fighting and, for once in his packed full of battle life, failing to hold back a yawn. His mother, as well as the other two women, noticed and smiled.

"Ranma, why don't you retire for the evening. I'm sure you could use the rest before school tomorrow, and I doubt there are any other pressing matters that require your presence." Nodoka blinked and put a finger to her lip as she considered her son. "There aren't any other matters, are there?"

Ranma shook his head as he let out another tired yawn. Rising from his seat, he gave Setsuna and Serenity a quick bow, before heading towards the stairs. With a sigh, Setsuna pushed herself up from her seat. " I should go and sleep too. Unlike some people," She stared pointedly at Serenity," I need my rest or I can't function properly the next day. Thank you for the tea Saotome-san. " Giving Nodoka a bow of her own, she quietly headed out of the house, both Nodoka and Serenity staying silent until they heard the door close.

Once Nodoka was reasonably sure that Setsuna had left, she carefully set down her cup of tea before staring at the woman across from her, a serious expression on her face. "Now then, why don't you tell me what it is you wanted me to know, and why it had to wait until after my son arrived?"

Serenity inhaled deeply as she thought of the best way to explain. "You see, many years ago, while I was taking a break in a small bar outside of Chiba, I came across a young man who seemed down on his luck, if the bar tab he had run up was of any measure. I approached him, curious as to what might be ailing him so. He told me that he while he had recently gotten married, his old martial arts master had decided to take him on a training journey, and he was simply drinking away in the hopes of making the separation from his wife a bit more bearable. "

Nodoka narrowed her eyes as Serenity continued on. " Unfortunately for him, by the time the bar was closing he had rung up a tab far in excess of what he could afford. Having heard his story, I offered to cover what he couldn't. He was so thankful that, having earlier mentioned that I had a young girl that I was the guardian of, after her family had died, he offered his first born child's hand in marriage." Nodoka's breath hissed through her teeth. Nodding sympathetically, Serenity grimly pulled out a small, folded piece of paper from out of a pocket and slid it across to Nodoka.

Nodoka shook her head in dissapointment as she picked up the paper and read it, grimacing as she noticed some of the details that she was sure her wayward husband had missed. "That is the contract, written and signed by one Genma Saotome. And unlike the other contracts, all of which this one precedes, this is signed as a father for his son, not as clan head. But," Serenity reached across the table and plucked the paper from Nodoka's hands before sliding it back into her pocket and continuing, "it is not quite that bad. Both Setsuna and your son are currently unaware of this contract, and I would like to see how things are between them, and let them decide."

Nodoka frowned in though for a moment, before a sly smile stole across her face. "And if they do decide they like each other, you can use the contract to break the other engagements." Serenity nodded appreciatively, pleasantly surprised by the intuitive leap of knowledge from Nodoka. "Quite a plan of yours, and its one I feel has a good deal of merit to it. Just be careful that it doesn't backfire on you, but can you imagine what the grandchildren would look like?"

Serenity smiled as she pulled out a small binder from somewhere on her person, though considering she was still wearing the same plain blouse and slacks that she had on earlier, the source of it being something that struck Nodoka as odd. She shrugged it off as something to ask about later as Serenity leaned forwards and put the binder on table, opening it and quickly leafing through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. Smiling, she slid it over to Nodoka it took a brief glance at the images on the page before clapping a hand over her mouth.

Serenity approved of the reaction, as she had responded much the same way when she had first seen the picture. "Impressive isn't it? Setsuna's mother is the one on the left there, the one with the green hair. Within her family, the colour of the hair usually transfers from the male to the female and vice-versa. So its a pretty safe bet that any granddaughters of yours will have the most interesting contrast between their red hair and their eyes, which I have no sure idea on the colour of."

Nodoka had briefly looked up at Serenity as she gave some background to the photo. Her first thought, upon seeing the myriad different hair colours, from violet, to sea-blue, to the emerald green of Setsuna, was of how much time it must of taken to gather all those young woman together for the photo. But then she had looked closer and noticed the fact that they all shared some common features, from the dusky skin tone, to their general height and builds. And as Serenity finished speaking, Nodoka lost herself in dreams of possible grandchildren.

She snapped back to reality in a flash and put a hand on Serenity's shoulder, an expression on her face so serious it was almost amusing. "Serenity-san, my dearest friend, we must do everything in our power to get these two together. _Everything._" And as the two smiled and plotted the night away, Ranma twisted and turned in his bed, his dreams turning cold and chilling as he shivered in his sleep.

* * *

><p>Okay, so some of you might be wondering why I gave Serenity a different last name when, in the last chapter when I introduced Setsuna, I put her as down as Setsuna's 'mother'. One, I never explicitly stated the fact that they shared names. Two, it is possible that Serenity could have, oh I don't know, lied. And three, Tsukinojoō roughly translates, according to google, as Queen of the Moon. Heh. (Edit, just realized the closeness between it and Usagi's last name. Doh.)<p>

I was bored and spending time on animefreak looking for something interesting between updates on a couple of my series, and found a neat little anime by the name of Oda Nobuna no Yabou. The premise is that a highschool student somehow travels back in time and ends up in the middle of a battle. And one side just so happens to be the Oda army. The poor guy is about to be killed when the guy who would eventually, in actual history, go on to become Hideyoshi Toyotomi saves his life. Unfortunately, he dies. But now comes the fun part, because all the major lords, Imagawa, Oda, Akechi, Date, they are all female. Let that sit in your mind for a moment. EVERY MAJOR PLAYER IN THE SENGOKU ERA IS A HOT WOMAN. THE VERSION OF ODA NOBUNAGA IS A TSUNDERE BADASS. THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE JUST HOW AWESOME THAT IS, EXCEPT IN CAPS.

*cough* Anyways, suffice to say, it caught my eye. And it, plus my unhealthy interest in Japanese history due to video games, anime, and manga, now has my mind working overtime on a crossover fanfiction between it and Ranma. And yes, I do believe that could be bad, but hey, I can just imagine him coming back from the past (after spending a long while there) to have his mom pull out the ol' family tree, and low and behold, there he is with one of the anime's characters. Heh, hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe , heh.

Oh, and sorry it took so long, but like I said before, I'm in my last year of high school, and I'm working on both a short story for a contest, and a full length novel, so my time for writing fanfiction is relatively limited, though I'm still finding time to end up writing two new stories in addition to the two other updates I've been working on.

Eh, that's life. See ya later.


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